LETTERS 


UNITED  STATES,  CUBA  AND  CANADA. 


BY    THE 

IIOK  AMELIA  M.  MURRAY. 

h 


TWO  VOLUMES  COMPLETE  IN  ONE. 


NEW  YORK: 
G.  P.  PUTNAM  &  COMPANY,  321  BROADWAY, 

OPPOSITE  PEABL  STREET. 
185G. 


Elbb 

M7/ 


}  PRINTER,    ^ 

31  ('  &  879  BROADWAl,  1<EW  YOKK. 


PREFACE 


THE  writer  of  these  letters  did  not  cross  the  Atlantic  to 
make  a  book.  She  has  no  wish  to  enter  into  controversy, 
or  to  be  supposed  a  partisan ;  but  facts  can  never  inj  ure 
truth,  on  whichever  side  it  may  lie ;  and  statements  made 
with  fidelity  and  accuracy  ought  to  be  welcome.  To  shrink 
from  their  perusal  is  to  exclude  (in  the  present  case)  one 
means  of  knowing  the  condition  and  probable  future  of  that 
race  for  whom  a  deep  interest  is  felt  by  the  British  Public, 
as  well  as  by  the  writer  of  these  pages,  however  different 
her  convictions  may  be  from  the  opinions  commonly  main 
tained. 

Should  anything  here  written  excite  bitter  feelings,  or 
cause  individual  pain,  the  error  must  not  be  thought  in 
tentional. 

A.  M.  M. 


M111781 


CONTENTS. 


LETTEK  I.  TAGK 

The  Voyage  to  Halifax — Our  Fellow-passengers — A  novel  Reviver 

LETTER  II. 

Boston— The  Harbour— The  First  Luxury— Mount  Auburn  Cemetery— My  Present 
Plans — The  Athenaeum — Pleasant  Location — 'Look -out  for  the  Locomotive' — 
An  Agreeable  Introduction — Botanical  Researches  ....  13 

LETTER  III. 

Wenham  Lake— Cockle-Craft— Eagle  Head— Boston— Statue  of  Washington— New 
port— Water  Quadrilles— A  New  Vegetable— American  Kindness— Dr.  Howe  .  2T 

LETTER  IV. 
Boston— The  Slavery  Question       ........         37 

LETTER  V. 

The  White  Mountains  Tour— Railway  Arrangements— Alton  Bay— The  Paper  Birch 
—Centre  Harbour— New  Acquaintance— Mount  Willard— A  Hasty  Judgment 
The  Hotel  House— The  Profile  House— Forest  Fires  ....  40 

LETTER  VI. 

Pleasant  Rambles— The  Flume— An  Evening  Party— The  White  Mountains— Pem- 
mewhasset— Wells  River— An  Early  Breakfast— Burlington— Connecticut  River 
—Rattlesnakes— Quebec— Night  Voyage— Spencer  Wood  ....  49 

LETTER  VII. 

Quebec — Spencer  Wood — A  Comparison — A  Paradox — Lord  Elgin — The  House  of 
Deputies — The  Premier's  Speech — Deeds,  not  Words — Monsieur  Brodeur — In 
consistencies  ....  .  .  .  •  .  59 

LETTER  VIII. 

Quebec— The  Clergy  Reserves— The  Industrial  Exhibition— A  Malcontent— A  Bo 
tanical  Excursion— Curious  Meteoric  Light— Visit  to  a  Squaw— Variable  Wea 
ther—  Canadian  Pensioners— Lord  Elgin— Canadian  Ladies  ...  70 


6  CONTENTS. 

LETTEE  IX.  PAS* 

Montreal— Victoria  Bridge— St  Hilaire— A  Pretty  Edifice— Silver  Heights— Ottawa 
Eiver— Le  Petite  Nation— The  Massacre— Natural  History— Falls  of  the  Ottawa 
—Officious  Care— A  Field  for  Enterprise  ......  84 

LETTER  X. 

Lake  Ontario — Eideau  Canal — Autumn  Forest-Tints — Lord  Elgin — Seat  of  Govern 
ment — The  Future  of  Canada — Eiver  St.  Lawrence — Primitive  Locomotion — 
Eice  Lake — Toronto — Toronto  Cathedral — Demonstration  at  Hamilton — Milton 
—Falls  of  Niagara— A  Profitable  Estate  ......  97 

LETTEE  XI. 

Niagara — Manners  of  the  Squaws — An  Old  Irishwoman — Lakes  Erie  and  St.  Clair — 
Detroit — A  perfect  Panorama — Sandwich — A  Penitent  Eunaway — Scarcity  of 
Servants — Cleveland  —Battle  of  the  Alma — Cayuga  Lake — Ithaca — '  Forest  City ' 
—Homer  ..........  Ill 

LETTEE  XII. 

Albany — Governor  Seymour — A  Transatlantic  "Wedding — The  Museum — The  Slave 
Problem — The  American  Clergy — The  Penitentiary — Indian  Thanksgivings — 
Origin  of  the  Party  Names — A  Paternal  Governor — A  Manxman — Youthful 
Heroism— Community  of  Shakers— The  Letter  of  the  Law— Probabilities  .  124 

LETTEE  XIII. 

New  York — The  Broadway — Greenwood  Cemetery — Eev.  Henry  "Ward  Beecher — 
Philanthropic  Institutions — Social  Engagements — Doctrine  of  Compensations — 
The  Maine  Law — "Washington  Irving — An  Unbiassed  Testimonial — Sectarian 
Assumption— Hopes  for  the  Future  .......  142 

LETTEE  XIV. 

New  York— The  Five  Points— Dogmatism— Baltimore— Sisters  of  Charity— "Wash 
ington— The  Capitol  and  Museum— Negroes  and  their  Masters— A  Motley  As 
semblage—The  Twig  and  Tree  .......  156 

LETTEE  XV. 

The  New  Year— "Washington  and  Andre— Character  of  the  '  Know-nothings '—Oc 
cupation  of  Congress— Smithsonian  Institute— "Woman's  Mission— Cuba  and  her 
Wrongs— A  Questionable  Alternative— A  Postulate  .  .  .  .166 

LETTEE  XVI. 

Washington— Papal  Jurisdiction— Extinction  of  the  Tribes— Presidential  Evening- 
Mormon  Domesticity — Offers  of  Marriage — Characteristics  of  the  South — Ameri 
can  Indifference— Benjamin  Franklin— Eichmond— The  Observatory— Eailroad 
Companions— Unpleasant  Incidents— Statue  of  Washington— General  Dilapida 
tion—  Char! ottesville— The  University— Eoad  to  Staunton— Lexington— Perils 
on  the  Eoad— The  Natural  Bridge— Scenery  on  the  Powhatan— Geological  Fea 
tures—Links  Canal-boat— Petersburg— Wilmington— Mr.  Gushing  on  the  War 
—Superior  Cultivation— Black  Servants  ......  176 


CONTENTS.  7 

LETTER  XVII.  VAG* 

Charleston — Masters  and  Slaves — '  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin' — Darkies  as  Nurses — North 
and  South — Negro  Characteristics — The  Tillandsia  (Jsnoides — Botanizing — Mag 
nolia  Cemetery — Southern  Habits — Belmont — Observations  on  Slavery  .  .  194 

LETTER  XVIII. 

Savannah,  Georgia— A  Rebecca— Negro  Character— Mistake  of  English  Philanthro 
pists — Buenaventura  Cemetery — A  Collision — Return  to  Savannah — Darien — 
Plantation— The  African  Race— Misdirected  Zeal— Debts  of  the  States— An  Un 
favorable  Contrast— Negro  Indolence— Alligators  .....  207 

LETTER  XIX. 

Hopeton— Topsy— Slave  Honesty— Brunswick— A  Primitive  Post-Office— Palatka— 
A  Shell  Land— Silver  Springs— Botanizing— Democratic  Despotism— Tea  Ser 
vice—The  Silver  Spring— Hotels  in  America— Tiger  Cat— Log-Dwelling— Ocala 
—Old  Dick's  View  of  Slavery— Panthers— Jacksonville— Charleston— Unusual 
Cold  ...........  220 

LETTER  XX. 

The  Genuine  Sea-Serpent—Lighthouse—Key  West— Approach  to  the  Harbour—  // 
Havana— The  Anti-Slavery  Movement— Buyers  and  Sellers— Mrs.  Crauford's 
Reception— A  Spanish  Dog— Pic-Nic— The  Capitan  Generate— Negro  Depreda 
tions  —  The  Coolies— Volant3s—Matanzas— Cocoa-Nuts— Sugar-Crushing— Ya- 
morri— Geological  Speculations          .......        284 

LETTER  XXI. 

Matanzas— Monsieur  's  Plantation— Sympathy  with  the    Cubans— Aboriginal 

Race— Return  to  Havana— Anecdote  of  a  Slave  Merchant— Abolitionist  Notions     ^ 
—The  Cabanos— Filibusterers— Turpitude  of  the  Blacks— Ramon  Pinto— Popu 
lar  Sports— Snake  Milker— Position  of  England— The  Future  of  Cuba— Spanish 
Misrule— Execution  of  Ramon  Pinto— Mrs.  Stow— Low  Moral  Condition  of  the 
Cubans — New  Orleans  ......  249 

LETTER  XXII. 

New  Orleans— Mosquito  Net— Slavery  v.  Freedom— A  Penitent  Fugitive— Separa 
tion  of  Negro  Families— The  Opera— Cuban  Watch  Cries— Cuban  Law— Dinner 
at  the  British  Consul's— In  the  Bush— Railroad  Accidents— Chatawa— Detention 
at  Osyka— Asylum  for  Widows— Negro  'Privelege'— Unhealthy  Locality— 
Pinto's  Conspiracy— Remarks  on  Slavery— Diorama  of  Pilgrim's  Progress— The 
Mississippi— Liberia— A  Paternal  Slaveholder— A  High- mettled  Racer— British 
Heroism — Address  to  Americans  .......  262 

LETTER  XXIII. 

Clerical  View  of  Slavery— Transatlantic  Sympathy— Negro  Character  .  .       281 

LETTER  XXIV. 

Indian  Tribes— Parisian  Perruquiers— Bayo  Navigation— Route  to  Washington- 
Planetary  Conjunction— Horned  Frogs— Fossilized  Forest— A  Lonely  Situation- 
Crocket— Dignity  of  a  Texan  Hostess— Alexandria— Novel  Road-Making—Pros 
pect  for  Emigrants— Birds  and  Snakes— Red  River— Scarcity  of  Workmen- 
Letter  on  Slavery— Fireflies— Effects  of  a  Drought— Eclipse  of  the  Moon  .  284 


CONTENTS. 


LETTEE  XXV. 

Street  Architecture— Stockport— Montgomery— An  Aunty— An  Intelligent  Negro 
—Stone  Mountain— A  Polite  Guide— An  Obliging  Landlord— A  Juvenile  Coach 
man—American  Romancing—'  Cactus  Eattailiense1— Achille  Murat— Nashville 
—Mrs.  Polk 


802 


LETTEE  XXVI. 

Mammoth  Cave— Treatment  of  Travellers— A  Slave  Guide— Mocking-birds— Even 
tualities— A  Negro  Beauty— Louisville— Cincinnati— The  Victoria  Eegia— A 
Generic  Term— Future  of  Cincinnati— A  Precipice  Town— Dr.  Johnson  on  Sla 
very—An  Example— Sunday  school  Teaching— An  Expectant  Millenarian— Be 
nevolent  Institutions— Democracy  and  Despotism— A  Consistent  Eepublican— 
A  Governor's  Levee— Music  in  America— The  Stone  Mountain— The  Bluffs  of 
the  White  Eiver— Error  of  Editorship— English  Aristocracy— Calling  Names— 
The  Temperance  Legislature — Bribery  ...  312 

LETTEE  XXVII. 

Albany— A  Wedding— Ticonderoga— Thunderstorm— Girard  College— A  Coal  Dis 
trict—Travelling  by  Gravitation— Increase  of  Episcopacy— Geological  Eiches— 
Montrose— Novel  Churn— Valley  of  Peace— Baptism  and  Confirmation— Elmira 
—Lake  Eosa— Pleasant  Travellers— Utica— Bishop  Elliott  on  Slavery— A  Negro 
Wedding— A  Negro  Funeral— Indian  'Sacred  Stone'— Cazenovia— Fine  Pros 
pects— Ornithology— Eural  Hotel— American  Excavator— A  Forest  Swamp- 
Trenton  Falls— The  Boiling  Pot  831 

LETTEE  XXVIII. 

Indian  Nomenclature— A  Shaker  Village— Cambridge— A  Troublesome  Negro- 
Whites  in  the  Northern  States— Slavery  an  Ordination  of  God— A  Brotherly  Act 
—Travelling-bag— Life-preserver— The  Wise  Men  of  the  West— Inhabited  Plan 
ets—Frozen  Wells— The  Zodiacal  Light— Gigantic  Frog— Free  Black  Mortality 
— Whcatley  Lead  Mines— Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence— Military  Cadets— Palace  of  the 
Hills— Cuatskill  Waterfall— Educational  Convention— Staten  Island— East  Eiv 
er— American  Crystal  Palace— Ailanthus  Glandulosa  .  .  .  .851 

LETTEE  XXIX. 
Saratoga— Miscreants— Lake  George— Gipsy  Expedition— Our  Progress— Saranac 

Lake — Our  First  Encampment — Preparations  for  Breakfast — Good  Fishing 

Deer  Hunting— Our  Tents— Our  Toilet— Long  Lake—'  A  Fix  '—Variety  of  Fun 
guses—A  Stormy  Night— A  Picturesque  Medley— The  Eight  Lakes— A  Word  to 
Travellers — Modern  Mirandas — 'Necessity  has  no  Law' — Departure  of  the 
Guides— A  Neglected  Eoad— Early  Memories— Blind  Owen— A  Prairie  District 
—American  and  English  Soldiers— Uncourteous  Manners  .  .  .  .867 

LETTEE  XXX. 

Aboriginal  City— St.  Louis— Chicago— Alton— 'Women'  and  'Ladies'— Mihvaukio 
—Iron  Mountain— State  Fair— A  Word  to  Travellers— Want  of  Consideration— 
American  Society— Dark  Eooms— The  'Lady  Elgin'— Wilful  Misdirection— Si 
lurian  Fossils— Indian  Names— Eemarks  on  Slavery— Epilogue  .  .  .887 


LETTEE  I. 

THE    VOYAGE     TO     HALIFAX. 

ON  BOARD  THE  CANADA, 
BANKS  OF  NEWFOUNDLAND,  July  29,  1854. 


MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

A  week  ago,  on  the  22nd,  we  left  the  Mersey  at  11  o'clock, 
A.  M.  ;  but  this  is  the  first  moment  that  head,  hands,  and  eyes  have 
been  willing  to  work  together  for  the  purpose  of  writing.  Captain 
Stone  says  we  may  put  letters  into  a  bag  at  Halifax,  and  that  we 
are  likely  to  arrive  there  on  Monday  night  or  Tuesday  morning,  so 
I  will  try  to  have  this  ready. 

Good,  kind  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rathbone  had  exhausted  every  possible 
thought  for  my  present  and  future  comfort ;  and  Mr.  Rathbone 
crowned  all  by  conveying  me  to  the  steamer  in  the  Jackal  mail  ten 
der  at  the  last  moment,  that  I  might  not  spend  a  single  unnecessary 
hour  on  board. 

The  sun  shone  cheerily,  the  lively  breeze  was  but  just  sufficient 
to  give  a  gay  jaunty  air  to  flags  and  sails,  and  no  sensation,  either 
sad  or  nervous,  affected  me,  to  mar  the  pleasant  scene.  I  found  my 
two  companions  already  in  the  ship,  and  my  case  of  plants  happily 
established  behind  the  wheel-house,  where  the  steersman  sits  com 
fortably  sheltered,  and  almost  hidden  from  view. 

I  arranged  my  cushions,  cloaks,  and  books  on  the  deck,  so  as  to 
make  me  a  back  of  the  mizen-mast,  and  in  the  persuasion  that  I  was 
about  to  pass  a  most  agreeable  and  intellectual  afternoon,  I  sat  down 
2 


10  THE    VOYAGE    TO    HALIFAX. 

to  enjoy  myself,  with  Mrs.  F by  my  side.     I  had  often  heard  of 

the  Bell  buoy,  but  no  very  particular  idea  had  ever  been  suggested 
by  its  name.  In  the  reality,  however,  there  was  something  very 
.solemn  and  affecting-— its  deep-measured  musical  sound  booming 
oV,er  tjie  sea:  :  It  Called  up  the  first  saddening  thought  that  had  yet 
crossed  my  imagination — tjie  thought,  that  for  how  many  gcillant  ships 
fchat  taacf  gpn-af  ferthj  Kppefui  and  cheerful  as  our  own,  had  it  tolled  a 
knelh  : 

The  wind  freshened,  the  motion  deepened,  and  in  less  than  an 
hour  my  companion  was  compelled  to  desert  me.  I  endeavoured  to 
preserve  a  stout  opinion  of  my  own  good  sailorship,  and  opened  a 
book,  but  as  that  demanded  too  much  attention,  I  changed  it  for  the 
Illustrated  London  News,  of  which  I  accomplished  one  column,  and 
then  tried  a  nap.  Thus  I  maintained  my  position  till  about  three 
o'clock,  when,  no  resolution  would  longer  avail,  and  I  was  forced  to 
call  for  help.  I  almost  threw  myself  into  the  arms  of  the  stewardess, 
who  still  asserts  that  I  am  an  excellent  sailor ;  I  am  willing  to  be 
lieve  her,  as  I  never  arrived  at  the  conclusion  of  most  great  sufferers, 
that  it  would  be  a  mercy  to  throw  me  overboard  ;  and  on  Monday 
I  created  quite  a  sensation  among  the  stewards  in  the  saloon,  by  ap 
pearing  ready  dressed  for  breakfast  soon  after  seven  o'clock,  oblivious 
of  the  fact,  that  eight  o'clock  soon  becomes  seven  in  crossing  the 
Atlantic.  However,  no  harm  was  done.  I  sat  down,  and  found 
myself  able  to  read  through  the  Illustrated  News,  which  had  become 
incomprehensible  to  me  at  the  second  page  on  Saturday  ;  and  though 
that  was  the  extent  of  my  literary  efforts  for  twenty-four  hours,  I 
hailed  it  as  a  symptom  of  convalescence.  My  friends  on  board  were 
still  horsde  combat,  and  did  not  revive  to  any  enjoyment  of  existence 
until  two  days  later.  On  Tuesday,  Hugh  Miller's  Schools  and 
Schoolmasters  became  a  source  of  great  pleasure  to  me  ;  and  to-day 
I  can  write  as  well  as  read  without  inconvenience.  There  are  not 
more  than  three  or  four  English  among  our  fellow-passengers.  Cana 
dians,  Germans,  French,  but  chiefly  Americans,  make  up  a  hundred 
guests,  entertained  in  the  chief  saloon  by  our  captain.  Not  more 
than  twenty  of  these  are  women.  There  are  seventy-four  second-class 


OUR    FELLOW-PASSENGERS.  11 

passengers  besides.     All  are  kind,  sociable  and  gentlemanly.    Three 

of  the  men  were  formerly  known  to  my  friend,  Mrs.  F ,  and  I  am 

becoming  well  acquainted  with  them.  It  is  very  agreeable,  as  well 
as  useful,  to  have  some  gentlemen  in  the  party  from  whom  we  can 
ask  and  receive  kind  offices  without  scruple ;  and  when  these  are 
bestowed  by  men  of  cultivated  minds  and  Christian  courtesy,  im 
provement  as  well  as  pleasure  must  be  the  result  of  the  voyage. 

Sunday,  July  30. — Such  a  lovely  morning.  Air  enough,  sun 
enough,  sea  enough.  But  I  missed  seeing  three  whales,  and  also  a 
sight  of  the  Asia  steamer  on  her  way  to  Liverpool,  by  my  doubts  as  to 
the  propriety  of  making  my  appearance  on  deck  soon  after  five  in 
the  morning,  as  I  did  yesterday.  Captain  Stone,  however,  promised 
to  send  a  messenger  to  my  cabin  door  on  future  occasions  of  the 
same  kind. 

We  have  had  two  magnificent  sunsets  on  the  passage — one  last 
nio-ht  and  one  on  Thursday.  I  had  never  till  now  beheld  the  sun  go 
down  without  a  cloud  or  speck  of  land  in  sight.  It  was  very  strik 
ing.  A  young  silvery  moon  stood  just  above  us,  and  the  scene  re 
minded  me  of  Turner's  picture,  '  The  Old  Temeraire.' 

It  seems  we  passed  Newfoundland  early  in  the  morning,  and  I 
would  have  '  turned  out '  to  see  it,  had  I  known  in  time.  Yesterday 
we  were  on  the  Banks,  and  saw  one  schooner  drawing  up  cod-fish 
out  of  the  water.  Some  fog  attended  our  passage  over  these  Banks, 
which  are  so  called  because  soundings  can  be  made  over  them,  while 
the  main  sea  is  unfathomable. 

Health  is  now  restored  to  the  passengers.  A  cheerful  tone  of 
feeling  pervades  the  saloon,  where  we  all  resort  to  read,  write,  play 
at  chess,  or  whist ;  converse  in  groups  or  pairs,  or  take  a  sound  nap 
in  the  midst  of  noise  and  bustle. 

In  our  whole  society  I  do  not  find  one  person  acquainted  with 
the  vegetable  world,  except  as  regards  the  edible  individuals  belong 
ing  to  it.  One  poor  lady  was  distressed  yesterday  at  the  apparent 
failure  of  her  endeavour  to  cultivate,  and  revive  a  little  plant  of  Mimu- 
lus  moschatus,  by  sending  it  to  the  ice-house  !  I  rescued  the  poor 
tiling  from  the  frozen  regions,  cut  off  its  perished  shoots,  and  begged 


12  THE    VOYAGE    TO    HALIFAX. 

its  owner  to  give  it  a  sunny  berth  with  a  tumbler  placed  over  it  to 
save  the  yet  surviving  roots  from  the  sea-spray  ;  but  life  was  too  far 
gone  to  recover  it. 

I  was  fortunate  before  leaving  England,  accidentally  entering  a 
bookseller's  shop  in  Leamington,  to  find  two  interesting  new  publi 
cations,  Hugh  Miller's  Schools  and  Schoolmasters,  and  Murchison's 
Siluria.  They  not  only  interest  me  deeply,  but  afford  pleasant 
reading  to  my  associates. 

July  31. — The  sun  set  in  a  bank  of  clouds,  and  we  have  had 
some  wind  and  rain  in  the  night ;  finding  my  berth  close,  I  was  on 
deck  very  early.  The  Captain  of  an  American  merchant  ship  showed 
me  a  Mother  Gary's  «hicken,  which  was  flying  just  above  the  water 
near  us.  He  gave  a  decided  opinion  that  the  best  manner  of  com 
bating  sea-sickness  is  by  determined  exertion,  and  by  getting  up  as 
soon  as  possible  after  the  first  attack.  He  says  the  first  effort  is 
equally  great  whether  it  is  made  the  second  day  or  the  twentieth ; 
he  has  known  people  keep  their  bed  eighteen  days,  and  suffer  just  as 
much  at  the  end  of  that  time  in'their  attempts  to  sit  upright  as  they 
could  have  done  seventeen  days  sooner  ;  so  that  the  earlier  the  bat 
tle  is  begun  the  sooner  it  is  over.  This  morning  there  is  more  sea 
than  we  have  yet  had,  and  I  bear  it  well.  It  is  expected  that  we 
may  reach  Halifax  late  this  afternoon,  perhaps  not  till  eight  or  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening.  I  shall  be  sorry  if  the  hour  will  not  allow 
us  to  land ;  but  I  am  told  that  it  is  a  custom  among  the  inhabitants 
to  light  up  their  houses  when  the  arrival  of  the  steamer  is  known, 
and  that  will  be  a  pretty  sight.  In  case  I  should  not  be  able  to  add 
to  this  letter,  I  will  conclude  it  now. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTEK  II. 


BOSTON. 


OK  BOARD  THE  CANADA,  | 
August  1,  1854.          f 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

My  letter  was  put  into  the  ship  bag  before  we  arrived  in  the 
fine  Bay  of  Halifax,  about  nine  o'clock  last  evening.  An  hour  earlier 
we  could  have  seen  the  town  and  distant  country  to  greater  advan 
tage  ;  but  it  would  have  been  ungrateful  indeed  to  require  more, 
when  we  were  already  blessed  by  so  much.  An  off-shore  wind,  soft 
and  balmy  ;  the  sea  like  an  inland  lake,  reflecting,  as  in  a  golden 
mirror,  eacli  little  boat;  brilliant  paths  of  light,  derived  from  moon 
or  lighthouse,  or  shore  lamp ;  a  full  round  red  sun  had  sunk  behind 
the  town  and  bay,  but  he  left  behind  him  an  hour's  twilight  of  crim 
son  and  gold,  which  had  also  vanished  before  our  ship  touched  the 
Nova  Scotian  shore.  "We  made  a  party  for  walking  about  Halifax 
by  moonlight.  The  streets  appear  to  consist  of  rather  irregular,  low 
houses,  built  chiefly  of  long  thin  boards,  called  'clap-boards,'  with 
shingle  roofs.  I  am  told  these  houses  are  painted  bright  colours,  but 
it  was  too  dark  to  see  this.  We  stumbled  along  the  dimly  lighted 
streets,  and  at  last  took  our  way  up  a  steep  one,  which  led  to  the 
Battery  Hill.  From  thence  we  had  a  fine  moonlight  view  of  the 
town  and  bay.  "We  also  saw  the  supports  of  the  electric  telegraph, 
and  passed  by  two  chapels,  and  some  trees  of  a  kind  there  was  not 
sufficient  light  to  recognize,  but  my  companions  thought  they  were 


14  BOSTON. 

the  Button  wood  (Platanus).  There  was  music  in  some  of  the 
houses — universally  Scotch  airs — '  Johnny  Cope,'  '  Annie  Laurie,' 
&c.,  &c.  As  a  Scotchwoman,  I  felt  sure  of  a  welcome,  if  I  had  wished 
to  intrude  upon  the  performers.  We  returned  to  the  Canada 
before  she  fired  her  guns  to  announce  our  approaching  departure.  The 
echo  of  these  guns  was  the  loudest  and  finest  lever  heard,  reverbe 
rating  like  thunderclaps  all  down  the  coast.  We  steamed  forth  about 
eleven  o'clock,  Jupiter  in  the  east,  and  the  whole  sky  bright  with  the 
brightest  stars,  and  meteors  could  be  seen  frequently  striking  across 
the  heavens.  About  twelve  we  were  asleep  in  our  berths,  and  I 
slept  late;  but  it  is  a  beautiful  morning,  so  that  we  can  walk  the 
deck  and  admire  the  still  sea  and  the  coming  shore.  Our  last  dinner 
was  all  conviviality  and  merriment,  everybody  complimented  every 
body,  and  particularly  the  captain  ;  and  most  of  us  agree  it  will  be 
useless  to  go  to  bed  again,  certainly  not  to  sleep,  so  impatient  are 
we  for  the  first  sight  of  Boston,  which  is  expected  to  be  visible  at 
sunrise. 

August  3. — I  think  the  Bay  of  Boston  must  be  as  wide  as  that 
extending  from  the  island  of  Portland  to  the  Start,  in  England, 
bearing  the  harbor,  I  expected  to  see  trees,  but  the  low  downs  and 
numerous  islands  which  surround  it,  though  green,  are  bare  of 
anything  but  houses.  It  is  the  finest  harbour  I  have  yet  seen,  and  I 
should  imagine  might  be  made  as  impregnable  as  Cronstadt,  if  as 
many  batteries  were  planted  upon  its  numerous  islands — one  only, 
defends  the  entrance.  I  now  feel  as  if  everything  round  me 
belonged  to  some  of  the  Leicester-square  life-like  Panoramas  ;  my 
voyage  seems  a  dream,  and  facts  unreal.  Once  in  the  harbour,  if 
blinded  and  turned  twice  round,  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  at 
which  point  we  became  embayed  and  surrounded  by  the  islands  and 
capes  —  vessels  sailing  about,  or  at  anchor,  in  every  direction. 
Owing  to  our  quick  voyage,  the  Niagara  (sister  of  Canada),  which 
leaves  at  twelve  to-day,  for  Liverpool,  had  not  vacated  her  berth  ; 
therefore  our  captain  was  obliged  to  lay-to,  and  await  her  depar 
ture.  We  arrived  about  nine  o'clock,  and  the  Custom-house 
appeared  to  ignore  our  presence  for  some  time ;  in  fact,  I  suppose 


THE    FIRST   LUXURY.  15 

they  would  rather  not  have  us  upon  their  hands  till  they  get  rid  of 
the  othei]  two  Cunard  steamers,  the  Niagara  and  the  Alps  ;  and  it 
was  an  hour  or  two  before  a  Tug  came  to  take  luggage  and  passen 
gers  ashore.  This  was  not  objectionable  to  me,  because  it  gave  me 

time  enough  to  look  about ;  but  it  was  trying  to  Mrs.  F ,  who 

had  brothers  and  sisters  waiting  to  receive  her,  after  five  years' 
absence.  The  first  thing  which  charmed  me  on  landing  was  the 
cleanliness  of  the  wharves,  and  the  complete  absence  of  sea  or 
harbour  odours.  No  sensation  reminded  one  of  departed  miseries  ; 
in  this,  Boston  has  a  great  advantage  over  Dover  and  Folkestone, 
where  one  is  made  sensible  (in  some  degree  at  all  times,  and  spe 
cially  at  low  tide),  of  a  commingling  of  mud,  gas,  and  sewers,  which 
is  certainly  not  consoling  for  the  past,  or  promising  for  the  future. 
The  Custom-house  officers  were  civil  and  obliging,  bothering  us  as 
little  as  possible ;  but  the  large  number  of  passengers  coming  and 
going,  and  an  avalanche  of  boxes  and  packages,  made  it  impossible, 
even  for  Americans,  to  '  go  ahead ;'  and  so  we  had  to  wait  for 
three  mortal  hours  in  the  chairs  they  set  for  us,  under  a  tolerably 
cool  shed. 

Mrs.  F 's  brother.  Mr.  C ,  then  procured  a  carnage,  and 

cart  for  our  baggage,  and  I  was  taken  to  the  Tremont  Hotel,  in 
their  way  to  his  house  in  Chesnut-street.  I  found  a  pleasant  draw 
ing-room  for  the  occupation  of  ladies,  and  bedrooms  for  self  and 
maid,  and  a  kind  fellow-passenger  to  take  charge  of  me  at  the 
table-d'hote.  I  found  excellent  cucumbers,  boiled  maize,  undressed 
tomatoes,  baked  fish,  and  lobsters — pleasant  cool  diet  to  a  person 
suddenly  plunged  into  a  heat  beyond  our  most  extreme  dog-days. 
The  first  luxury  I  welcomed  with  gratitude  was  the  abundance  of 
ice — a  jug  of  iced  water  placed  even  in  my  bedroom — on  the 
table  of  the  ladies'  saloon,  and  everywhere  at  meals.  After  dinner, 

Mr.  D was  so  obliging  as  to  procure  tickets  for  a  garden,  five 

or  six  miles  off,  belonging  to  Mr.  Gushing,  and  also  for  Auburn 
Cemetery.  Mr.  Cushing's  flower-garden  and  houses  are  considered 
the  finest  in  New  England ;  but  they  were  not  beyond  a  third-rate 
or  fifth-rate  in  our  old  country.  The  fruit-houses  seemed  in  good 


16  BOSTON 

order — the  flower-houses  not  more  than  tolerable  ;  I  saw  no  plants 
that  were  not  old  acquaintances  of  mine  in  most  of  our  gardens, 
with  the  exception  of  one,  a  creeping  annual  or  biennial,  which  had 
been  allowed  to  ramble  over  the  flower-beds ;  the  gardener  (a  young 
Irishman)  could  not  tell  the  name  of  it.  Its  foliage  and  buds 
looked  like  a  soft  woolly  convolvulus,  the  flowers  double,  each 
separate  one,  when  plucked,  in  size  and  form  like  a  flaccid  pink 
Soapwort.  The  gardener  told  me  of  two  pretty  wild  plants  which 
had  particularly  struck  him  in  the  neighbourhood ;  from  his  descrip 
tion  one  might  be  a  Saracenia,  the  other  some  species  of  Ornitho- 
galon.  I  asked  Captain  Stone's  hospitality  for  my  precious  Ward's 
case  of  plants  on  board  the  Canada  till  I  can  make  the  acquaint 
ance  of  Dr.  Gray,  to  whom  I  wish  to  consign  them.  They  have 
flourished  since  their  emigration,  as  all  plants  in  hermetically  sealed 
cases  do  flourish. 

My  American  friend,  after  our  visit  to  the  garden,  conveyed  me 
to  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery,  that  last  resting-place  for  humanity,  an 
example  of  what  I  hope,  some  day,  to  see  copied  in  the  neighbour 
hood  of  London.  In  feeling  and  taste  it  is  really  perfect.  No 
crowding  up  in  disgusting  heaps  like  our  own  churchyards.  Shade, 
elegance,  and  that  stillness  so  soothing  to  the  grief, --the  recollections, 
and  the  hearts  of  surviving  friends — a  place  interesting  to  strangers, 
and  not  disagreeable  even  to  the  young  and  gay.  The  bury  ing- 
ground  of  each  family  is  as  nearly  as  possible  alike  in  size,  all  fenced 
off  by  strong  but  neat  and  pretty  iron  railings,  with  small  gates ; 
over  the  front  of  every  entrance,  simple  surnames  and  Christian 
names  belonging  to  first  purchasers,  with  dates,  all  in  iron  ;  each 
family  is  permitted  to  place  monuments  and  tombs  within  its  own 
enclosure.  I  do  not  know  if  there  is  any  check  which  may  stop 
the  exercise  of  atrociously  bad  taste ;  but  by  some  means  or  other 
this  must  be  effected,  for  all  the  tombs  are  simple  and  inoffensive, 
and  some  of  the  monuments  beautiful.  I  was  surprised  to  see  that 
a  few  were  protected  by  glass,  particularly  one  pretty  recumbent 
statue  of  a  child.  Nearly  all  the  erections  are  pure  white  marble ; 
generally  low  obelisks  or  slabs.  I  saw  not  one  objectionable  in 


1*7 

MOUNT    AUBURN    CEMETERY. 


feeling  or  in  taste,  and  no  pompous  fulsome  epitaphs.     '  Imphra 
Pace1  might  have  been  inscribed  over  the  entrance  of  this  ceme 
tery,  without  causing  any  revulsion  of  sentiment  within  its  pre 
cincts;    in  this  matter,  certainly,  the  mother  land  may  well  take 
some  hints  from  her  child's  example.     As  we  drove  away  a  man 
offered  a  bunch  of  water-lilies  for  sale  (or  rather  buds  which  are  to 
open  to-morrow).     My  companion  gave  me  three.     He  tells  me 
they  have  long-shaped,  sweet  white  blossoms ;    and  the  stems  are 
very  long.     I  saw  no  leaves ;  but  it  is  certainly  not  our  Thames 
white  water-lily  ;  this  one  is  Nymphsea  odorata.     Last  night  the 
closed  buds  looked  too  firmly  shut  for  me  to  see  them  soon  open, 
but  even  before  sunshine  has  touched  them,  at  eight  o'clock  this 
morning,  they  are  wide  awake.     I  see  no  difference  between  them 
and  OUTS,  except  that  the  petals  are  longer  and  more  pointed,  but 
they  have  a  much  more  pleasant  scent.     Our  drive  was  through  a 
thickly-inhabited    suburb,  going   by  Brookline    and   returning  by 
Cambridge   and  Harvard   College  ;    one   country  house  and  villa 
succeeding  another.     The  architecture  and  elevations,  and    green 
external  blinds,  make  them  much  resemble  houses  around  Frank 
fort;  but  apparently  they  have   arisen  so  fast,  that  there  has  not 
been  time  enough  to  ornament  the  gardens  with  flowers  ;  a  rather 
rough  lawn,  with  a  few  shrubs,  chiefly  Arbor  vitse   and  Pinus,  per 
haps  a  tree  Hibiscus  here  and  there,  was  most  commonly  all.     The 
general   aspect  of  Boston,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  prin 
cipal  houses,  say,  «  We  have  been  in  such  a  hurry,  we  must  finish 
by-and-by.'     But  I  don't  dislike  the  appearance  of  the   unhewn 
grey  stone,  a  granite  of  which  some  of  them  are  built.     When  of 
brick,  in  this  neighbourhood,  the  colour  is  more  pink  and  less  glaring 
than  ours.     Soon  after  my  return  to  the  hotel,  Miss  C-     -  came 
and  brought  a  sister,  sister-in-law,  and  a  nephew  to  see  me;  and 

afterwards  Mr.  D introduced  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mills  (the  latter  a 

daughter  of  a  benevolent  agriculturist,  Mr.  Colman,  who  died  in 
England) ;    on  her  return  home,  she  kindly  sent  me  a  beautiful 

nosegay,  and  this  morning  Mr.  D ,  before  his   departure   for 

New  York,  left  me  two  more  letters  of  introduction  for  Nahant, 


18  BOSTON. 

where  I  think  of  going  this  afternoon,  as  I  find  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Long 
fellow  are  there,  and  I  much  wish  to  see  them  ;  besides  which,  this 
town  is  like  a  bakery,  it  is  so  hot.  I  shall  probably  visit  Mr.  and 

Mrs.  B ,  at  Newport,  in  a  day  or  two.     The  cholera  is  said  to 

be  raging  at  Montreal  and  Quebec,  so  I  shall  not  hurry  myself  to 
get  there  ;  and  I  shall  wish  rather  to  linger  among  the  valleys  and 
hills  of  the  Connecticut  River,  after  leaving  Newport :  then  I  am  to 
visit  the  White  Mountains ;  and  my  present  idea  is  to  reach  Wash 
ington  by  the  opening  of  Congress,  in  December,  and  afterwards 
travel  southward  to  Virginia,  Louisiana,  Florida,  and  perhaps  Cuba. 
If  I  accomplish  this  tour  successfully,  I  imagine  it  would  be  plea 
sant  to  follow  the  spring  of  1855,  northwards ;  chiefly  for  the  sake 
of  botanical  researches,  and  then  to  return  to  Boston  in  June  or 
July,  when  I  may  spend  my  remaining  three  months  either  in  this 
town  or  its  neighbourhood.  Of  course,  my  plan  may  be  modified 
or  changed,  but  it  offers  a  prospect  of  much  interest  and  amuse 
ment.  Sir  Charles  Grey,  the  late  governor  of  Jamaica,  who  joined 
our  ship's  company  at  Halifax,  and  is  now  in  this  house,  complains 
of  the  frigidity  of  winter,  even  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  States, 
and  strongly  recommends  me  to  take  shelter  in  Florida,  where  he 
says  I  shall  find  warmth  and  amusement  for  a  few  weeks  ;  but  pro 
bably,  after  so  many  years  passed  in  tropical  climes,  his  constitution 
is  more  sensitive  to  cold  than  mine. 

Boston,  August  4.— A  delightful  day  yesterday.  Too  tired  to 
write  my  letter,  and  get  to  breakfast,  much  before  ten  o'clock.  I 
was  not  dressed  when  Mr.  Mills  sent  up  his  card,  lie  said  he  would 

call  later ;  and   while  I  breakfasted,  Mrs.  F 's  brother,  Mr.  C. 

C ,  came  to  me,  both  offering  services  ;  then  came  Mr.  F , 

Miss  C-  — ,  and  F .     I  received  a  very  kind  farewell  note  from 

a  friend  (who  left  Boston  for  New  York  at  six  o'clock),  with  some 
letters  and  notes  of  introduction.  My  first  immediate  object  being 
Dr.  Gray  and  the  Botanical  Garden  at  Cambridge,  Mr.  D wight  (a 

former  acquaintance  in  London),  and  Mr.  R.  C.  C accompanied 

me  there.  My  expectations  were  not  at  all  disappointed  :  I  met 
with  a  hearty  welcome,  and  all  the  information,  and  enthusiasm  for 


THE    ATHENAEUM.  19 

plants,  I  desired  to  find.  With  the  intention  of  returning  to  dinner 
here  at  two  o'clock,  I  found  it  more  than  half-past  before  I  thought 
of  leaving  the  Garden,  and  I  then  made  an  appointment  to  meet 
my  Ward's  case  of  plants  at  Dr.  Gray's  house  by  nine  o'clock  this 
morning.  Upon  looking  over  the  lists,  nearly  all  the  plants  I  have 
brought  are  new  to  him  ;  Weigelia  rosea  and  Deutziascabra  he  has, 

so  they  will  belong  to  Mrs.  F .     I  learnt  much  botanically, 

and  have  promises  of  aid ;  the  trees  in  this  Garden  interested  me 
deeply — so  many  are  quite  new  to  me.  One  or  two  of  them  I  am 
sure  would  do  at  Abbotsbury,  particularly  the  beautiful  Virgilia 
lutea.  I  saw  such  pretty  mallows,— in  short,  I  felt  as  if  transported 
to  the  Fairyland  of  Flowers.  Newport  this  week  is  out  of  the  ques 
tion,  for  Dr.  Gray  has  proposed  botanizing  over  part  of  this  country 
with  me  ;  so  we  are  going  to  have  a  walk  to-morrow,  and  we  are 
to  go  to  Nahant,  and  perhaps  I  shall  stay  there  a  few  days.  I  am 
told  I  shall  find  good  sketching,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Longfellow  and 
Professor  Agassiz  are  there.  We  returned  to  the  Tremont  Hotel, 

and  afterwards  Mr.  D took  me  to  call  at  Mr.  Eliot's,  Mr.  Tick- 

nor's  and  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence's,  and  then  showed  me  the  Athe- 
na3um  (the  finest  architectural  building  in  Boston)  where  there  are 
public  reading-rooms,  a  good  library  and  some  tolerable  pictures, 
particularly  two  unfinished  heads  of  Washington  and  his  wife,  by 
Stewart.  I  admire  Alston's  portraits,  but  not  much  his  landscapes  ; 
perhaps  those  I  have  seen  were  not  his  best.  There  is  a  statue  of 
Washington  in  the  entrance  which  looks  like  a  French  caricature, 
the  head  thrown  back  in  a  forced  ungraceful  way ;  but  there  is  one 
on  the  opposite  side,  of  a  well-looking  man — celebrated  here  but 
unknown  to  me,  so  I  have  forgotten  his  name, — an  evidently  truth 
ful  resemblance ;  it  sits  in  an  easy  contemplative  attitude,  with  an 
expression  of  countenance  so  very  like  tho  venerable  Mrs.  Fletcher, 
of  Grasmere,  that  I  could  fancy  him  her  father.  Our  dinner-hour 
was  long  past  at  the  Tremont  Hotel,  but  I  got  something  from  a 
long  printed  bill  of  fare,  which  is  struck  off  each  day,  and  some  re 
freshing  lemonade.  I  remember  reading  somewhere,  that  English 
people,  who  are  used  to  good  servants,  must  make  up  their  minds 


20  BOSTON. 

to  be  indifferently  waited  on  in  America,  but  at  present  here  I  should 
rather  complain  of  being  too  much  attended  to.  The  waiters  seem 
innumerable,  and  at  least  two  are  constantly  on  the  look-out  to  find 
out  the  requirements  of  a  guest.  I  mentioned  three  times  this, 
morning  that,  having  been  supplied  with  tea  and  rolls,  and  broiled 
salmon  and  broiled  mackerel,  I  required  nothing  more,  but  still  an 
attendant  was  always  at  my  elbow  in  two  minutes  after  I  had  civilly 
dismissed  him  ;  and  as  board,  and  I  believe  all  payments,  must  be 
included  in  the  five  dollars  a  day  for  self  and  maid,  their  attentions 
are  not  individual  affairs.  C.  F came  at  seven  o'clock  to  con 
duct  me  to  his  aunt's  family  tea.  I  found  his  mother  in  the  midst 
of  brothers,  sisters,  nephews  and  nieces,  in  a  room  with  a  verandah, 
vine-embowered,  and  the  bunches  of  grapes  hanging  thickly  above 
it, — a  cheerful,  pleasant  party  of  young  and  old,  we  remained  to 
gether  till  past  eleven  o'clock,  when  my  host,  Mr.  E.  C ,  and  his 

sisters,  walked  back  with  me,  about  half  a  mile,  to  my  hotel.  The 
air  was  pleasantly  warm  and  balmy ;  only  one  individual  crossed 
our  path,  but  I  heard  the  persevering  cricket  grating  away  from 
many  an  Althaea  frutex,  which  forms  the  principal  ornament  of  the 
tiny  gardens  before  most  of  the  houses. 

Saturday,  August  4. — Here  am  I — I  don't  know  where  !  for  I 
am  writing  the  first  thing  in  the  morning,  and  such  was  my  interest 
and  pre-occupation  and  delight  at  the  wholly  unexpected  beauty  of 
this  place  last  night,  that  I  did  not  ask  its  name.  Imagine  scenery 
more  like  Mount  Edgecumbe  than  anything  else  I  ever  saw  or  heard 
of  in  Great  Britain ;  only  with  few  ships  on  the  sea.  Pines  and 
cypresses,  and  shrubs  of  the  (to  me)  rarest  description,  growing 
down  to  the  very  margin  of  the  picturesque  jagged  shore,  with  grey 
and  red  porphyry  rocks  starting  up  on  all  sides,  even  from  the  very 
door  of  M.  L 's  charming  cottage, — Cherokee-roses  and  honey 
suckles  on  the  verandah  ;  various  plants  and  shrubs,  and  even  black 
berries  new  to  me,  one  with  a  delicious  fruit,  something  between 
blackberry,  mulberry  and  raspberry  in  flavour  (Rubus  villosus,  high 
blackberry),  rambling  over  the  grey  boulders,  and  in  front  a  sea 
studded  by  islands.  In  the  evening  there  was  a  glowing  sunset  on 


PLEASANT    LOCATION.  21 

the  land  side,  Jupiter,  amidst  the  eastern  constellations,  shining  over 
the  bright  calm  sea ;  imagine  also  the  air  just  freshened  by  a  shower, 
and  you  may  form  some  idea  of  the  enjoyments  I  had  in  a  moon 
light  walk  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gray  last  night.  But  I  must  try  and 
give  some  rational  account  of  ho  wand  why  I  find  myself  somewhere 
near  Beverley,  in  the  United  States,  instead  of  at  Nahant.  This 

place  is  called  Glencove,  and  the  one  adjoining,  where  Mr.  L 's 

son  lives,  is  Burnside.  I  find  it  difficult  to  write,  and  even  to  dress, 
the  view  from  my  bed-room  window  is  so  attractive.  The  pleasure 
ground  below,  upon  a  rough  hill,  which  descends  rapidly  to  the 
sea,  is  sprinkled  over  by  apparently  upheaved  granitic  boulders,  in 
terspersed  with  Pinus  rigida,  Junipers,  a  large  shrubby  white-leafed 
honeysuckle,  fine  fruiting  rubuses,  roses,  and  various  kinds  of  wild 
flowers  new  to  me  ;  the  shore,  with  occasional  dark  masses  of  vol 
canic  strata  bursting  through  the  rocks;  a  bay  dotted  by  islands, 
some  with  buildings  on  them,  and  one  having  a  tall  lighthouse ; 
ships  and  little  boats  sailing  about  in  all  directions ;  a  long  promon 
tory  stretching  to  the  south  between  this  place  and  Nahant ;  the 
weather  warm  enough  to  have  windows  wide  open  all  night,  and 
yet  not  the  least  oppressive ;  with  all  this  to  distract,  you  may  won 
der  that  I  do  get  dressed  soon  after  seven — the  breakfast  hour  of  my 
hospitable  entertainers. 

I  must  go  back  to  the  time  when  R and  I  left  Boston  yes 
terday  morning.  We  drove  to  Dr.  Gray's  soon  after  nine  o'clock, 
my  purpose  being  to  open  the  Ward's  case  of  plants  with  him,  and 
then  to  proceed  to  the  hotel  at  Nahant  to  stay  a  day  or  two.  I 
found  Mrs.  Gray,  who  was  absent  yesterday,  had  kindly  come  home 
to  meet  me.  She  and  her  husband,  whose  acquaintance  was  my 
first  wish  in  America,  and  whose  scientific  knowledge  can  only  be 
exceeded  by  his  kindness,  had  prepared  a  pleasant  surprise  for  me 

by  arranging  with  her  father  and  Mrs.  L for  my  reception  here. 

They  proposed  my  accompanying  them,  after  he  had  facilitated  my 
trip  to  Nahant,  to  visit  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Longfellow,  and  to  make  the 

acquaintance  of  Mr.  D 's  brother  and  sister-in-law,  to  whom  he 

had  given  me  a  letter  of  introduction.     He  drove  back  to  Boston, 


22  BOSTON. 

and  I  made  my  first  American  railway  journey  for  a  few  miles  only, 
as  far  as  Lynn.  I  found  the  long  gallery  carriages  comfortable  and 
airy,  the  communication  from  one  part  of  the  train  to  the  other  com 
plete  and  easy,  and  although  passing  across  the  streets  and  roads 
without  tunnels  or  barriers  is  rather  alarming,  yet,  as  the  engines 
have  a  large  bell,  and  great  boards  are  placed  all  across  with  notices 
to  look  out,  and  not  cross  while  the  bell  is  heard,  I  suppose  that  in 
dividual  caution  may  avoid  a  smash ;  but  sad  accidents  do  sometimes 
happen.  Two  young  ladies  driving  in  an  open  carriage  near  this 
place,  last  year,  being  interested  in  their  own  conversation,  were 
thrown  off  their  guard,  when  a  train  came  upon  them.  One  was 
killed  on  the  spot,  and  the  other  never  recovered  the  shock. 

I  found  a  gigantic  ugly  hotel  at  Nahant  marring  the  beauty  of 
its  situation  :  it  is  a  great  boarding-house  brimming  over  with  com 
pany.  I  was  received  by  Mrs.  C.  D ,  who  engaged  Dr.  Gray 

and  me  to  dine  with  her  at  the  public  table,  at  four  o'clock,  and 
directed  us  to  Mr.  Longfellow's  residence.  We  had  passed  the 
cottage,  about  a  mile  off,  in  our  drive  from  Lynn ;  so  we  got  into 
the  carriage  which  brought  us,  and,  in  pouring  rain,  retraced  our 
way.  We  were  cordially  received  by  Mr.  Longfellow,  though  Mrs. 
Longfellow  had  not  received  a  preparatory  note,  which  had  been 
forwarded,  immediately  upon  our  landing  at  Boston,  to  their  house 
at  Cambridge.  After  a  short  stay,  he  was  so  kind  as  to  walk  with 
me ;  and  in  a  heavy  rain  he  held  an  umbrella  over  my  book,  while 
I  made  a  sketch  of  the  rocks  and  bay.  I  thought  several  times,  with 
alarm,  how  I  should  answer  to  the  world  if  I  were  the  cause  of  Mr. 
Longfellow  catching  his  death  !  particularly  as  he  would  go  on  in 
wet  clothes  to  dine  with  us  at  the  hotel;  but  he  assured  me  a 
brother  was  there  who  would  let  him  take  measures  of  prevention, 
and  I  was  too  happy  to  make  a  sketch  honored  by  such  company 
and  conversation.  So  it  was  done,  in  spite  of  rain  as  heavy  as  one 
of  our  heaviest  thunder-showers  in  England,  and  I  did  not  lament 
that  my  thin  muslin  dress  was  fairly  soaked.  But  on  reaching  the 

hotel,  Mrs.  D 's  Welsh  nurse  (a  Glamorganshire  woman  from 

near  Cowbridge,  who  knew  about  all  my  friends  there,  and  in  con- 


AN    AGREEABLE    INTRODUCTION.  23 

sequence  gave  me  sea  weeds  she  had  preserved)  afforded  me  the 
means  of  becoming  tolerably  dry  before  dinner.  This  is  the  largest 
hotel  I  ever  saw.  When  quite  finished  it  will  accommodate  five 
hundred  guests.  It  belongs  to  the  same  proprietor  as  Tremont 
House  in  Boston.  I  did  not  inquire  the  dimensions  of  the  dinner- 
saloon,  but  I  imagine  that  three  of  the  size  of  the  Kursaal  dining- 
room  at  Homburg  might  be  contained  in  it.  I  sat  between  Mrs.  C. 
D and  a  gentleman,  to  whom  she  introduced  me :  Mr.  Long 
fellow  joined  us  after  dinner.  I  was  happy  to  see  his  coat  was 
changed,  a  fact  which,  in  some  measure,  relieved  my  mind  of  the 
fear  that  I  might  be  answerable  for  his  death.  If  Dr.  Gray  had 
not  so  obligingly  prepared  the  way  for  my  escape  to  a  residence 
more  accordant  with  my  tastes  and  pursuits,  I  doubt  whether  even 
the  vicinity  of  friends  could  have  reconciled  me  to  a  stay  of  more 

than  one  night  at  Nahant,  though  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  W (he  an 

old  acquaintance  in  England)  sent  me  a  kind  offer  of  the  use  of 
their  sitting-room  and  carriage ;  but  a  few  hours  was  enough  just 
to  glimpse  at  the  humours  of  the  place,  where  I  suppose  a  large  num 
ber  of  the  busy  and  the  industrious  come  to  enjoy  relaxation  and 
idleness.  I  ought  to  add  that  I  was  introduced  to  Chowder,  a  most 
praiseworthy  preparation,  enabling  you  to  eat  soup  and  fish  at  one 
time. 

The  rain  had  now  subsided  into  a  thick  fog.  Dr.  Gray  and  I 
got  into  the  Carry-all  I  had  kept  waiting  to  take  us  back  to  the 
railway  station ;  and  in  half  an  hour  we  arrived  at  a  picturesque 
valley,  surrounded  by  rich  woods  and  tumbled-about  sienitic  rocks. 

Here  Mrs.  L 's  carriage  (driven  by  a  man  who  had  lived  with 

the  late  Lord  Camden)  met  us,  and  in  a  few  minutes  we  reached 
Glencove.  Its  rare  beauty  was  an  unexpected  surprise,  for  Dr.  Gray 
had  only  promised  me  a  quiet  botanizing  nook.  His  father  and 
mother-in-law,  with  Mrs.  Gray,  received  me  with  great  kindness. 
Mr.  L is  in  the  legal  profession.  A  few  years  ago,  when  seek 
ing  repose  and  rest  from  over  work,  he  accidentally  stumbled  upon 
this  place,  purchased  it  from  the  farmer  to'  whom  it  belonged,  and 
built  his  comfortable  cottage,  and  one  adjoining  it  for  his  eldest  son, 


24 


BOSTON. 


who  is  at  present  travelling  in  Europe  with  an  invalid  brother,  hav 
ing  left  a  wife  and  three  nice  children  at  home.  Mrs.  Gray  is  stay 
ing  with  her,  as  well  as  a  lady,  who  promises  to  induce  her  husband, 
a  sculptor  and  an  artist,  in  Boston,  to  come  here.  Besides  a  little 
boy  and  girl  in  this  house,  Mr.  L has  a  large  family  of  grand 
children,  belonging  to  another  married  daughter,  near  at  hand.  An 
other  of  my  acquaintances  at  home,  Mr.  F D ,  lives  within 

a  short  walk.  After  my  arrival  here,  the  weather  was  so  obliging 
as  to  clear  up,  and  I  had  a  delightful  scramble  to  the  Eagle  rock, 
where  I  yesterday  made  a  sketch,  for  I  am  now  filling  up  my  letter 
on  the  7th.  Saturday,  was  a  day  of  enjoyment.  We  breakfasted 
soon  after  seven  o'clock.  Perfect  weather ;  not  too  hot ;  so  that 
after  wandering  about  the  grounds,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gray,  and  Mrs. 

L ,  took  me  a  drive  to  see  two  lakes  (or  ponds  as  they  call  them 

here).  Essex  Pond  is  an  almost  exact  counterpart  of  the  lake  at  Long- 
leat,  only  surrounded  by  more  extensive  forests,  and  with  others,  larger, 
in  its  neighbourhood.  I  sketched  it,  and  afterwards  Hamilton  Lake 
from  a  distance,  for  we  spent  so  much  time  in  botanical  researches, 
that  we  could  not  attempt  to  go  farther.  I  gathered  about  forty 
plants  quite  new  to  me,  and  was  particularly  pleased  to  find  the 
Pontederia  cordata,  which  we  prize  so  much  in  the  fountain  at  Ab- 
botsbury,  and  the  Rhexia  virginica  growing  at  the  edge  of  the  water, 
with  quantities  of  the  pretty  little  rare  English  plant  Eriocaulon 
septangulare ; — it  is  such  a  pleasure  and  advantage  to  have  the  com 
pany  of  a  botanist  like  Dr.  Gray  to  give  me  at  once  the  names  of 
plants  new  to  me,  instead  of  spending  perhaps  hours  in  seeking 
them  out.  Among  the  most  beautiful  of  these  new  acquaintances 
was  Spirea  tomentosa,  a  pink  shrub,  Osmunda  spectabilis,  and  Leu- 
cocarpus  conyzoides,  and  I  was  much  pleased  with  a  sweet  Gale, 
larger  and  handsomer  than  ours,  and  quite  as  odoriferous.  But  I 
must  add  a  list  of  plants  to  this  letter,  for  those  who  care  about  them 
— though  certain  friends  of  mine  will  only  be  bored  by  their  long 
names.  We  got  back  just  in  time  to  go  and  dine  at  Burnside  with 
Mrs.  W.  L .  The  view  from  her  verandah  and  windows,  look 
ing  across  the  bay  towards  Marblehead  and  Salem,  and  over  Mr. 


BOTANICAL    RESEARCHES.  25 

L 's  garden,  with  a  rocfcy  cove  below  and  the  islands  scattered 

about,  was  lovely  beyond  description.  I  have  made  a  sketch  which 
does  not  do  it  justice.  Yesterday  we  went  to  church,  about  three 
miles'  distance.  The  service  was  well  conducted  ;  the  congregation 
large  ;  no  signs  of  poverty ;  the  people  looking  well-to-do,  and  even 
rich  in  appearance.  The  edifice  very  plain :  all  grey  inside  ;  behind 
the  reading-desk  and  pulpit  a  large  globe,  painted  in  fresco,  with 
clouds  around,  appearing  as  if  being  dispersed  by  the  sun  rising  be 
hind — emblematic,  of  course,  and  pleasingly  executed  :  the  roof  went 
up  into  a  large  kind  of  open  tower,  finished  at  the  top  by  a  simple 
large  white  flower ;  blinds  upon  each  window  outside ;  a  good  or 
gan  ;  the  singing  well  conducted  ;  the  hymns  pretty.  The  minister 
preached,  not  extemporarily,  from  the  text,  '  We  must  all  appear 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ.' 

After  dinner,  Dr.  Gray  and  Mrs.  L took  me  to  walk  in  a 

wild  wood,  chiefly  of  hemlock  spruce  and  Weymouth  pines ;  both 
are  more  beautiful  here  than  they  are  in  England ;  and  the  bold 
massy  sienitic  rocks,  many  of  them  covered  by  various-coloured 
lichens,  among  which  were  Tripe  de  Roche  and  Umbellicaria  vellea, 
with  its  graceful  black  wreaths  ;  the  ground  was  tinted  by  Reindeer 
moss,  with  its  soft  bluish  grey ;  which  with  the  bright  scarlet  ber 
ries  of  Comus  Oanadensis,  dark-leaved  Pyrolas,  Gaultherias,  Linnoe 
borealis,  twining  in  amongst  them  with  white  pipes  of  Monotropa 
uniflora  peeping  up  from  under  rare  ferns,  and  elegant  Vaccineas, 
formed  a  foreground  which,  for  softness  and  variety  of  colouring, 
exceeded  aught  I  ever  saw  even  in  Scotland.  In  the  forest  we  met 

a  son-in-law  of  Mr.  L 's,  Mr.  J ,  botanizing  with  three  boys, 

the  youngest  not  more  than  seven,  yet  all  appeared  to  take  an  eager 
and  intelligent  interest  in  the  pursuit,  and  each  was  loaded  with  a 
splendid  bouquet,  from  which  they  showed  me  a  pretty  new  Asclepias 
(incarnata).  Having  now  three  strong  arms  to  carry  us  through 

difficulties,  Mrs.  L and  I  got  down  a  steep  descent  in  the  wood, 

and  in  a  little  opening  below,  we  gathered  Oncclea  sensibilis,  Os- 
munda  spectabilis,  and  Veronica  scutellata.  I  must  finish  this 
abruptly,  as  Mr.  L tells  us  our  letters  must  go  now,  to  be  ready 


26  BOSTON. 

for  to-morrow's  post  to  England.     Mrs.  B 's  communication  of 

August  3d,  that  she  would  send  to  meet  me  on  Saturday  last,  has 
only  just  arrived.  I  now  propose  to  go  to  her  at  Newport  on  Thurs 
day.  Lord  Elgin  also  writes  that  the  accounts  of  the  prevalence  of 
cholera  are  exaggerated,  and  proposes  to  receive  me  at  Spencer 
Wood,  near  Quebec.  I  think  of  going  from  Newport,  through  the 
Valley  of  the  Connecticut,  to  the  White  Mountains,  and  thence  by 
Lake  Champlain  to  Montreal ;  but  I  shall  probably  send  off  another 
letter  from  Newport. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 

The  .sketching  here  is  very  interesting. 
August  9. 


LETTER  III. 


NEIGHBOURHOOD    OF    WEN  HAM    LAKE. 


GLENCOTE,  August  10. 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  am  rather  tormented  by  what  are  here  called  mosquitoes, 
but  they  are  not  a  bit  worse  than  our  gnats  and  midges  and  harvest- 
bugs  ;  indeed,  I  doubt  whether  I  could  have  frequented  woods  and 
bogs  in  England  for  as  long  together  as  the  time  I  have  passed  these 
last  few  days  in  the  forest,  and  by  the  sea  and  lakes  here,  without 
being  more  devoured;  and  as  to  really  venomous  reptiles,  I  have 
not  stumbled  upon  one :  indeed,  I  have  seen  nothing  disagreeable 
belonging  to  the  animal  world,  and  only  one  little  dead  snake,  not 
much  larger  than  our  slow-worm,  and,  I  am  told,  harmless.  I  hear 
of  humming-birds  occasionally  on  the  honeysuckles,  but  it  has  not 
been  my  good  fortune  to  see  one ;  indeed,  I  have  observed  very  few 
birds.  There  were  two  or  three  yellow  linnets,  like  canary  birds,  in 
the  Botanic  Garden,  and  I  heard  one  little  warbler  in  the  morning 
from  my  window,  but  he  sings  very  sparingly.  The  railroad  is  au 
dible  at  times.  I  can  hardly  believe  we  are  so  near  to  the  business 
side  of  life,  from  the  quiet  tranquillity  immediately  around;  though 
we  can  see  towns  on  the  distant  shore,  and  vessels  of  all  kinds  on 
the  sea. 

Soon  after  breakfast  this  morning,  Mr.  L took  up  Mrs.  W. 

L and  me,  driven  by  Mr.  E ,  to  see  Wenham  Lake  (or 

pond).     It  is  a  fine  sheet  of  water,  clear,  and   pure  looking,  about 


28  WENHAM    LAKE. 


four  miles  round  the  banks  ;  easy  of  access,  and  at  each  end  are  a 
number  of  wooden  ice-houses ;  a  railroad  has  been  brought  close  up 
for  the  purpose  of  easy  transportation.  Upon  the  pebbles  at  the' 
3dge  of  the  water,  we  found  two  little  opaque-looking,  oblon<r  eg*s 
supposed  to  belong  to  a  small  turtle.  I  sketched  the  lake,  bu*  found 
few  flowers,  though,  on  our  way  home,  we  gathered  Solidago  Cana- 

densis.     After  dinner  Mr.  and  Mrs.  L took  me  to  call  upon  their 

daughter,  Mrs.  J ,  and  upon  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D ,  who  have 

houses  about  a  mile  on  the  shore  towards  Beverley,  but  I  think  not 
quite  so  prettily  situated  as  this  cottage.     In  the  evening,  I  wrote 

letters.     We  breakfasted  at  seven  o'clock,  as  Mr.  L went  early 

into  Boston.     Sketched  out  of  doors,  after  paying  a  visit  to  Mrs  W. 

L         ,  who  accompanied  me  with  her  cousins,   Mrs.  G and 

Mrs.L ;  and  Dr.  Gray  returned  to  dinner:    afterwards  Mrs 

-  drove  with  me  to  Mr.  M 's,  to  see  Mrs.  F and  Miss 

-.     Quite  a  surprise  to  me  to  find  them  so  near.     It  is  such  a 
clear  night,  with  a  bright  moon  lighting  up  the  islands.     Three 
ig hthouses  are  visible  from  these  windows-Baker's  Island,  Boston, 
I  Marblehead ;  the  last  only  a  revolving  light. 

_  I  forgot  to  mention  that  Mr.  S.  C gave  me  a  very  curious 

animal  production,  a  kind  of  elegant  little  vase,  about  two  or  three 
ches  across,  the  colour  and  substance  of  fine  grey  cloth,  edged  in 
scalloped  plaits,  which  were  very  gracefully  formed  out  of  sand  and 
an  adhesive  substance.     It  is  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  some  kind 
cockle  by  the  sea-shore,  for  the  purpose  of  catching  and  confinin- 
ts  usual  food.     Much  care  will  be  necessary  to  carry  this  fragile  cu- 
nosity  safely  to  England;  and  I  am  doubtful  how  to  preserve  my 
two  little  turtle's  eggs ;  they  are  too  solid  to  be  blown,  and  I  propose  to 
varnish  them,  which,  perhaps,  will  prevent  their  destruction.     Mr 
*(the  gentleman  who  so  nobly  distinguished  himself  during 
our  Irish  famine,  by  undertaking  to  freight  a  ship  with  provisions 
and  carry  her  across  the  Atlantic)  dined  here.     He  considers  him- 
to  have  some  descent  from  or  connexion  with  our  Murrays  in 
Scotland,  and  we  are  quite  ready  to  acknowledge  the  relationship 
Thursday,  August  JO.-Mr.  L provided  two  Carry-alls  to 


EAGLE    HEAD.  29 

convey  a  pic-nic  part}7  to  see  Eagle  Head,  a  fine  porphyry  bluff 
about  seven  miles  distant.  Mrs.  W.  L took  out  her  fine  good- 
humoured  baby  girl,  not  seven  months  old,  and  she  seemed  to  enjoy 
the  expedition  as  much  as  any  of  us.  In  our  way  we  passed  through 
a  bright,  white,  and  clean-looking  upholstery  manufacturing  town, 
called  Manchester,  the  strongest  contrast  to  our  black,  dirty-looking 
Manchester  possible.  The  factory  young  men  looked  like  smart 
London  tradespeople,  and  the  women  were  equally  well  dressed.  I 
have  only  seen  one  ragged-looking  body  in  these  parts,  and  that 
was  in  Boston.  He  was  supposed  to  be  a  recently  imported  Irish 
man.  This  part  of  the  country  looks  rather  sterile  and  unproductive, 
in  an  agricultural  point  of  view ;  more  thickly  sown  with  picturesque 
rocks  than  corn,  and  therefore  at  first  it  seems  a  miracle  how  the 
population  can  make  themselves  so  comfortable,  and  their  general 
appearance  be  that  of  people  well  to  do  in  the  world ;  but  they  have 
plenty  of  employment  in  various  handicrafts.  Between  this  place 
and  Beverley,  and  towards  Wenliam,  there  are  numberless  tidy- 
looking  small  shoe-workshops — many  shoes  are  made  all  through 
the  neighbourhood  ;  these  workshops  are  distinct  from  the  residences 
of  the  shoemakers,  who  reside  in  houses  all  made  of  wood,  but  of  a 
comfortable  size.  One  sees  no  very  small  cottages.  I  have  met  two 
or  three  people  who  say  they  have  come  over  from  England  to  make 
a  little  money  and  mean  to  return  there. 

The  views  all  round  Eagle  Head  are  fine;  numerous  indenta 
tions  and  islands  on  this  coast  make  it  so  picturesque.  We  lunched 
on  water-melon  and  cakes ;  and,  after  spending  two  or  three  hours 
very  pleasantly,  returned  home.  Our  party  consisted  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  W.  L ,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gray,  Mrs.  G ,  Mrs.  L 's  bro 
ther,  Mr.  E ,  two  young  girls,  and  the  baby.  Mr.  L was 

taken  away  by  the  unexpected  arrival  of  a  party  of  workmen  for  the 
construction  of  a  ram,  which  he  was  obliged  to  superintend.  After 

dinner,  Mr.  W.  L proposed  a  row  on  the  sea  by  moonlight ;  all 

the  ladies  except  myself  were  afraid  of  the  undertaking.  The  tide 
being  low,  we  were  obliged  to  be  drawn  into  the  water  by  a  horse 
upon  a  low  truck,  and  the  difficulty  of  sticking  to  it  when  the  horse 


30  BOSTON. 

made  his  first  effort  to  drag  the  machine  out  of  deep  sand  was  con 
siderable.  We  returned  safely,  however,  without  paying  any  other 
penalty  for  the  experiment  than  getting  rather  wet. 

Friday,  Wth. — After  breakfast,  Mr.  L walked  with  me  to 

Sunny  Bank.     I  sketched,  before  leaving  this  pretty  place.      Mr. 

L showed  me  the  difference  between  common  maize  and  sweet 

corn.  The  latter  appears  to  be  only  more  delicate  than  the  former. 
It  is  very  good,  when  the  corn  is  young,  served  up  simply  boiled,  to 
be  eaten  with  butter  and  salt.  By  the  four  o'clock  train  I  left  Glen- 
cove  with  Mrs.  G ,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  L seeing  us  off.  It  was 

more  like  parting  from  old  friends  than  from  the  acquaintances  of  a 
week :  I  had  found  myself  so  pleasantly  at  home  among  them. 
We  reached  Boston  about  six  o'clock,  when  I  was  introduced  to  Mr. 

G ,  who  met  us  at  the  station ;  and  Mrs.  G -  took  me  home 

with  her  to  Ashburton  Place ;  I  found  a  nice  house,  belonging  to 
her  mother,  with  every  comfort ;  and  in  the  evening  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

G took  me  to  call  on  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Abbott  Lawrence,  where 

we  passed  a  pleasant  hour,  talking  over  English  matters.     Next 

morning  early,  I  went  with  R to  Tremont  House,  to  unpack 

my  baggage  and  arrange  it  for  future  use.  From  ignorance  of  hotel 
customs  in  this  country,  I  had  left  my  trunks  with  the  hotel  authori 
ties  ;  and  they  charged  me  during  my  absence  as  if  my  boxes  had 
eaten  and  drank,  so  that  my  bill  was  more  than  forty  dollars,  though 
I  had  remained  so  short  a  time  in  the  house,  and  only  had  two 
small  bedrooms  there ;  but  payments  are  made  for  rooms,  not  for 
board  or  attendance ;  and  whether  an  individual  person,  or  an  indi 
vidual  box,  eats  or  not,  the  same  money  is  paid.  Mr.  G took  me 

to  his  studio,  to  see  an  interesting  design  for  sculpture.  The  subject 
was  a  shepherd  boy :  he  is  supposed  to  have  carried  off  a  young 
eaglet,  and  to  be  attacked  by  the  mother  bird.  She  has  alighted 
upon  the  shoulder  of  the  lad,  who,  borne  down  in  a  stooping  pos 
ture,  seizing  one  wing  of  his  assailant,  grasps  in  his  right  hand  a 
knife,  with  which  he  is  prepared  to  defend  himself.  This  idea  is 
expressed  with  great  force.  I  did  not  admire  Chantry's  statue  of 
Washington  at  the  State  House  ;  it  is  wanting  in  character.  The 


STATUE    OF   WASHINGTON.  31 

one  at  the  Athenaeum  is  better ;  but  neither  of  them  satisfy  the 
imagination  as  much  as  Stewart's  unfinished  heads  of  Washington 
and  his  wife  in  the  Picture  Gallery.  Among  the  sculpture  there  are 
several  busts  by  native  artists,  which  would,  I  think,  be  considered 
fine  in  Europe.  There  was  a  bas-relief  by  an  elder  brother  of  Mr. 
Greenough,  now  dead,  a  sketch  of  which  I  fancy  to  have  seen  some 
where  in  England.  At  the  house  of  his  sister  I  saw  another  work 
by  the  same  artist :  two  children — the  one  as  an  angel  leading 
the  awakened  soul  of  the  other,  with  an  inscription  below ;  very 
pretty. 

Mr.  B had  advised  me  to  start  by  the  four  o'clock  train  for 

Providence  to  take  the  Newport  steamer ;  I  was  agreeably  surprised 

by  the  pleasure  of  Mr.  G 's  escort  and  company  the  whole  way : 

he  was  so  obliging  as  to  make  the  discovery  that  he  too  had  some 
friends  to  visit,  and  this  added  much  to  the  ease  and  the  interest  of 
my  journey,  which  was  longer  than  I  expected — three  or  four  hours 
by  rail,  and  at  least  twenty-five  miles  up  an  arm  of  the  sea  to  Rhode 
Island.  It  was  dark  before  we  reached  Newport,  but  I  found  Mrs. 
B 's  eldest  son  and  Mr.  B awaiting  our  arrival :  they  con 
veyed  me  in  a  carriage  about  two  miles  to  their  villa,  which,  as  it 
has  no  name,  I  shall  call  Ocean  Cliff.  The  sea  view  has  only  some 
small  islands  to  break  the  expanse  of  water ;  so,  if  it  were  possible, 
one  might  see  as  far  as  the  South  Pole.  The  high  ground  between 
this  place  and  Newport  is  studded  by  villas  ;  fine  rocks,  which  look 
like  limestone,  edge  the  points  and  bays  of  the  shore,  and  just  below, 
black  coal-looking  bluffs  crop  out  into  the  waves:  last  evening  I 
walked  to  look  at  them,  but  I  understand  there  is  no  fear  that  the 
smoking  chimneys  of  steam-engines,  or  the  black  produce  of  the 
earth,  will  ever  mar  the  beauties  of  this  shore.  The  next  morning 

after  my  arrival,  young  Mr.  B drove  me  out  in  what  is  here 

called  a  wagon,  a  four-wheeled  kind  of  dog-cart,  with  very  high  light 
wheels  (wheels  very  general  round  this  country,  but  such  as  I  have 
only  seen  attached  to  velocipedes  in  England),  drawn  by  a  spirited 
little  horse,  having  the  same  good  quality  which  I  also  observed  in 
the  larger  one  belonging  to  Mr.  L ,  that  of  standing  patiently 


32  NEWPORT. 

when  left  to  himself;  in  this  respect  horses  are  better  trained  here 
than  with  us.     When  we  were  wandering  about  for  an  hour  or  two, 
the  carriage  could  be  safely  left,  with  the  reins  only  slightly  attached 
to  some  gate  or  paling,  and  the  horse,  though  powerful  and  spirited, 
never  seemed  to  have  an  idea  of  walking  off.    I  asked  the  English 
groom   how   this   was   taught,  but  received  no  other  explanation 
than  that  they  were  trained  to  it ;  and  a  great  convenience  it  is. 
One  sees  butchers'  carts  in  London  standing  unguarded  at  houses, 
but  I  never  found  that  carriages  could  be  safely  left,  particularly 
with  the  temptations  of  green  fields  and  trees  in  every  direction. 
We  drove  by  Newport  to  the  bathing  sands,  where  gentlemen  take 
charge  of  ladies  in  the  surf:  it  was  to  me  a  very  singular  and 
amusing  scene — numerous  carriages,  drawn  up  before  a  semicircle 
of  small  bathing-houses,  containing  gaily  dressed  occupants,  who  had 
taken  their  marine  walk,  or  were  waiting  for  the  ladies,  young  and 
old,  still  frolicking  about  among  the  waves,  children  dancing  in  and 
out,  gentlemen  handing  about  their  pretty  partners  as  if  they  were 
Saucing  water  quadrilles,  and  heads,  young  and  old,  with  streaming 
hair  dipping  in  and  out :  it  was  very  droll,  very  lively,  and  I  daresay 
very  amusing  to  all  engaged.     No  accident  has  ever  occurred  here, 
for  the  bay  is  protected  by  capes  on  each  side,  and  the  water  is 
shallow  for  some  distance  out.     A  white  flag  is  raised  during  the 
hours  appropriated  to  ladies,  and  it  is  succeeded  by  a  red  one,  later 
in  the  day,  when  gentlemen  take  possession  of  the  shore  on  their 
own  account.     The  scene  resembled  that  on  a  racecourse  in  Eng 
land.     I  made  a  slight  sketch  from  the  hill  above :  it  was  unique  in 
its  way,  for  I  believe  there  are  few  places,  even  in  America,  where 
the  sea  would  be  safe  for  such  an  experiment :  and  even  here  the 
aid  of  strong  arms  is  at  times  very  necessary  to  save  ladies  from 
being  knocked  over  by  the  waves.     There  was  considerable  surf  to 
day,  but,  from  the  numbers  who  breasted  it,  I  suppose  the  courage 
necessary  for  the  undertaking  is  not  so  great  as  it  appears  to  me. 
I  should  look  on   a  long  while  before  I  could  try  this  kind  of 
experiment. 

Sunday,  August  13.— -I  went  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  which 


A    NEW    VEGETABLE.  33 

was  built  during  the  English  occupation  here ;  Berkeley,  Bishop  of 
Cloyne,  presented  a  good  organ.  The  service  was  well  read :  our 
Liturgy,  with  only  an  occasional  change,  which  I  thought  an  im 
provement.  The  sermon,  preached  by  a  Mr.  Cook,  good  in  matter 
and  in  manner,  and  ending  at  the  right  moment — not  spun  out  so 
as  to  weaken  its  effect :  as  it  was  neither  commonplace  nor  dry,  I 
did  not  think  whether  it  lasted  for  twenty  minutes  or  for  fifty  min 
utes,  and  I  really  do  not  know  what  its  duration  may  have  been. 
The  subject  was  Christ's  command  to  '  follow  him,'  and  the  moral 
deduced  was,  that  the  experiment  of  obedience,  if  fairly  tried,  will 
never  fail  to  convince  the  sceptic,  and  to  strengthen  the  believer. 

Dinner  was  at  three  o'clock  ;  afterwards,  Mr.  G joined  us  in  a 

walk  to  the  shore.  Tea  was  ready  when  we  returned  ;  a  beautiful 
moonlight  starlight  night.  Mr.  Lawrence,  an  English  artist,  walked 
in;  his  crayon  portraits  are  much  liked  here,  and  with  good 
reason ;  they  are  true,  pleasing,  and  spirited.  I  much  admired  a 
sketch  of  Rogers,  done  just  before  Mr.  Lawrence  came  from  England 
last  spring. 

I  see  nothing  like  timber  upon  this  island.    Mrs.  B showed 

me*a  little  bit  of  primeval  forest  yesterday;  it  appeared  to  consist 
of  hiccory  and  sassafras,  low,  thick,  and  scrubby;  but  the  English 
are  accused  of  having  destroyed  nearly  all  the  natural  wood  during 
the  revolutionary  period.  The  Gulf  Stream  touches  this  shore, 
which  makes  a  mild  and  genial  climate,  though  I  am  told  that 
sharp  winters  here  destroy  myrtles  and  pomegranates,  which  flourish 
upon  our  south-western  coast,  while  a  warmer  summer  sun  ripens 
fruits  that  fail  with  us.  I  must,  however,  try  to  introduce  an  excel 
lent  vegetable  into  England,  which  is  called  here  by  the  name  of 
Okra.  I  have  not  yet  seen  the  flower  expanded,  but  the  plant  looks 
like  some  kind  of  Hibiscus,  with  a  long  green  fruit,  which  makes  a 
delicious  ingredient  in  soups  ;  it  is  softer  and  more  gelatinous  than 
asparagus,  and  when  young  and  tender  is  cut  in  slices :  it  is  an 
annual,  and  perhaps  will  not  ripen  seed  with  us,  but  is  surely  better 
worth  raising  in  hot-houses  than  French  beans.  I  will  get  some 
good  seed  by  and  bye ;  this  and  the  Rubus  villosus  would  both  be 
3 


84  IsEWPORT. 

good  introductions ;  there  is  a  high  variety  of  the  latter,  which 
might,  I  think,  be  cultivated  in  our  warmer  gardens,  like  raspber 
ries  ;  the  fruit  is  in  size  and  colour  between  the  blackberry  and 
mulberry,  and  I  think  much  better  than  the  first,  and  much  more 
certain  than  the  last,  though  the  flavour  may  not  be  quite  so  high  as 
that  of  a  really  good  mulberry.  I  am  surprised  that  it  has  never 
yet  been  cultivated  in  England.  At  six  o'clock  this  morning,  a  thick 
fog,  which  ended  in  rain  and  a  fine  day. 

There  are  people  this  side  the  Atlantic  who,  as  new  acquaint 
ances,  are  very  pleasant.     This  morning  I  have  been  introduced  to 

Mrs.  and  Miss  B ;  they  sympathize  about  flowers  and  stone?, 

which  is  rare  in  this  country ;  and  they  are  not  the  least  stiff  or 
cold.  When  people  are  cultivated  and  warm-hearted,  I  soon  forget 
and  forgive  their  habits  of  making  all  our  vowels  double,  and  even 
the  nasal  tone  of  some  among  them.  There  is  a  genuine  charac 
teristic  frankness  here  which  is  very  pleasant.  There  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  treat  our  fellow-beings  that  happen  to  be  new 
acquaintances,  with  less  kindness  than  dogs  or  horses.  I  am  afraid 
this  is  a  fault  in  our  national  character.  I  believe  we  are  honest  and 
sincere,  and  that  is  better  than  mere  surface  politeness  ;  but  we  lose 
so  much  time  in  our  cautious  civilities,  that  in  some  cases  life  is  half 
expended  before  we  dare  exchange  mere  acquaintanceship  for  a 
warmer  feeling.  The  Americans,  who  are  a  go-ahead  people  in  all 
their  concerns,  appear  to  me  to  carry  their  hearts  in  their  hands ; 
this  is  very  pleasant  to  a  stranger  coming  suddenly  among  them  ; 
and  it  is  difficult  for  me  to  'realize'  that  it  is  only  fourteen  days  to 
morrow  since  I  landed  on  these  shores,  so  many  homes  and  hearts 
upon  it  have  already  been  opened  to  me.  Perhaps  I  shall  find  a 
difference  in  other  places,  and  I  may  have  been  particularly  fortunate 
in  my  first  acquaintances.  There  is  certainly  great  beauty  and 
refinement  of  feature  among  the  mass  of  the  people,  but  it  is  accom 
panied  by  a  fragility  of  look  which  raises  painful  feelings.  As  far 
as  I  can  judge  at  present,  this  is  owing  partly  to  hereditary  causes, 
partly  to  actual  habits.  The  excitement  and  anxieties  of  business- 
life  in  a  new  country  probably  entail  constitutional  delicacy  upon  the 


AMERICAN    KINDNESS.  35 

children  of  parents  so  eagerly  occupied,  and  the  sedentary  city  edu 
cation  and  pursuits  of  the  young  of  the  last  and  present  generation, 
unfavourable  to  out-of-door  interests  and  amusements,  do  not  harden, 
and  strengthen  the  nerves  and  muscles.  I  am  already  tempted  to 
contravert  the  assertion  of  American  ladies,  that  their  generally 
delicate  health  is  to  be  attributed  to  climate.  They  may  have 
severer  winters  and  warmer  summers  than  ours,  but  these  are 
accompanied  by  the  advantages  of  less  damp,  and  of  brighter  sun 
shine.  I  have  not  had  an  hour  too  warm  for  exercise  during  any 
part  of  the  day,  for  though  the  sun  is  brighter,  it  does  not  always 
beam  so  furiously  as  with  us.  The  climate  of  Massachusetts  seems 
to  me  a  charming  one,  and  I  believe  another  generation  will  dis 
cover  its  merits,  because  I  entertain  hopes  that  the  children  now 
growing  up  will  acquire  more  hardy  habits.  Tbe  evil  I  am  speak 
ing  of  cannot  be  remedied  in  a  day ;  and  I  find  American  ladies  are 
at  this  moment  so  little  informed  with  regard  to  natural  productions, 
and  so  unfitted  for  country  pursuits,  that  their  ignorance  of  these 
matters  is  at  once  the  evidence  and  the  cause  of  their  lack  of  phy 
sical  strength. 

Newport,  August  15. — I  was  introduced  to  about  thirty  new 
faces  yesterday.  Among  them  the  Governor  of  New  York.  A  pleas 
ant  acquaintance ;  he  gave  me  much  geological  information,  and 
promises  to  forward  my  seeing  Albany,  &c.,  to  advantage.  I  took 
a  walk  on  the  shore  just  below  this  garden,  and  was  much  interested,  as 
well  as  a  good  deal  puzzled.  My  little  geological  knowledge  is  quite  at 
fault ;  sand  and  quartz  rocks,  coal  and  limestone,  and  they  say  granite 
beyond ;  this  seems  to  me  a  jumble.  I  suppose  it  will  be  reduced  to 

order  by  and  bye.  After  dinner  Mrs.  B took  me  a  distant  drive 

up  the  island,  to  call  on  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Howe  :  the  doctor's  name  and 
benevolent  deeds  have  long  been  familiar  to  me.  We  found  also? 
visiting  them,  a  nephew  of  the  late  Dr.  Tinkerman,*  and  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Carlton,  \  descendants  of  Lord  Baltimore.  Dr.  Howe  has  bought 
a  cottage  in  a  picturesque  valley,  about  a  mile  from  the  sea-shore» 

*  Tuckermaii  ? — Am.  Ed.         f  Calvert  ? — Am.  Ed. 


36  NEWPORT. 

and  is  busy  making  walks  and  opening  out  views ;  his  children  will 
benefit  in  health  and  tastes.  The  sun  set  before  we  could  tear  our 
selves  away,  and  so  we  got  home  in  the  dark,  and  broke  an  engage 
ment  to  drink  tea  out ;  but  Mrs.  and  Miss  B came  here  instead, 

and  we  had  a  pleasant  evening.     Miss  B will  come  soon  after 

eight  to-morrow  morning,  to  take  me  to  the  rocks ;  she  is  the  only 
active  young  lady  I  have  met  with  ! 

August  16. — After  an  early  breakfast,  Miss  B took  me  to 

Newport,  to  get  an  American  trunk  to  pack  parcels  ;  and  in  coming 

back  we  went  to  see  the  pretty  view  from  Mrs.  B 's  house,  and 

after  carrying  home  our  purchase,  we  drove  to  Mrs.  C 's  villa, 

which  is  built  close  to  a  shore  of  fine  granite  rocks.     Several  lady 

visitors  were  with  Mrs.  B before  I  came  away.    Soon  after  one 

o'clock  I  called  for  Mr.  G ,  who  accompanied  me  on  board  the 

steamer,  where  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Howe. 
The  Doctor  went  on  with  us  to  Boston.  Dr.  Gray  came  to  Ashbur- 
ton  Place,  and  promises  to  go  with  me  to-morrow,  as  far  as  Lake 
Winnipiseogee,  ( '  Spirit  of  the  Waters,' )  which  I  am  to  see  on  my 
way  to  the  White  Mountains ;  from  thence  my  proposed  route  to 
Canada  is  by  Burlington  and  Lake  George.  Although  so  much  is 
said  about  cholera,  Lord  Elgin  mentions  that  there  is  great  exagge 
ration.  Kain  is  prophesied  to-night,  and  it  would  be  better  to  have 
wet  before  my  next  journey,  to  lay  the  dust.  There  has  only  been 
one  showery  day  since  my  arrival  in  America,  a  fortnight  to-day  ;  it 
seems  more  like  two  months  than  two  weeks — so  many  new  ideas 
have  been  crowded  into  the  time.  The  Canada  sails  to-morrow.  I 
have  had  no  news  from  England  later  than  the  morning  I  left  Liver 
pool  ;  and  probably  my  letters  have  gone  to  the  care  of  Lord  Elgin. 
No  time  for  more  to-night. 

Yours  affectionately. 

A.  M.  M. 


* 

^&.  ja»jy^^  ,^-if  ^-Jf*  2k-^%^^&.  %-%^&.  %£?^$b 

""  '^   ?Vi   ?*' 


LETTER  IV. 

SLAVERY     QUESTION. 

I 
Wednesday,  August  16. 


BOSTON, 


MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

My  last  letter  will  go  by  the  Canada  this  morning,  if  possi 
ble  (as  the  train  by  which  we  travel  towards  the  White  Mountains 
does  not  start  till  afternoon).  I  shall  try  to  see  Captain  Stone  before 

he  sails.     Mrs.  G is  gone  to  Sunny  Bank,  so  I  miss  her  here ; 

her  sister  received  me,  Mrs.  L being  confined  to  her  room  by 

illness.  I  am  told  that  after  leaving  these  Northern  States,  I  shall 
find  the  country,  and  the  people,  and  the  habits,  much  less  English  ; 
here  the  shade  of  difference  is  very  slight — certainly  not  greater  than 
a  difference  of  institutions  necessitates.  A  supply  of  excellent  water 
is  so  abundant  in  Boston  (derived,  I  am  told,  from  Lake  Cochituatc, 
forty  miles  distant),  that  by  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  see  the 
servants  belonging  to  houses  watering  the  pavement  before  the  doors 
with  a  long  hose,  as  we  should  water  our  gardens  ;  and  the  house 
maids,  with  those  clean,  convenient,  light-looking  Shaker  brooms* 
sweeping  away  the  dust.  I  do  not  know  any  one  of  our  towns  (not 
even  Bath)  which  exceeds  this  in  purity  and  neatness ;  and,  as  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  cholera  abroad,  in  coming  through  the  streets  the 
other  day,  I  found  them  perfumed  with  hot  vinegar.  I  was  told  a 
carnage  full  of  that  fumigated  liquid  had  been  driven  smoking 
through  the  streets.  There  are  deaths  every  day  here,  and  some  at 


38  BOSTON. 

Newport ;  but  it  is  not  believed  to  be  contagious  at  present,  only 
carrying  off  the  profligate  and  the  debilitated.  I  hear,  though,  that 
the  deaths  at  New  York  last  week,  among  a  population  of  five  hun 
dred  thousand  only,  equalled  our  usual  bills  of  mortality  in  London. 
I  should  particularly  dread  any  epidemic  falling  upon  a  people  which, 
as  a  general  rule,  look  so  over- worked,  and  fragile,  and  thin  as  these 
Northern  Americans.  Dr.  Howe  says  it  is  climate ;  as  yet  I  am  in 
credulous  upon  this  point.  My  friend,  Mr.  L ,  confessed  he  was 

almost  in  his  grave  when,  eight  years  ago,  he  bought  his  pretty 
place.  Now,  with  the  revivifying  influence  of  his  farm  and  garden 
(although  he  does  not  entirely  give  up  his  legal  duties),  he  looks  as 
strong  and  healthy  as  any  sexagenarian  upon  our  side  of  the  Atlan 
tic.  I  should  like  to  transplant  all  the  sick  dyspeptic  men  and  wo 
men  of  New  York  and  Boston  into  gardens  and  fields,  before  I  will 
admit  that  this  pleasant  climate  is  to  blame.  I  am  rather  inclined 
to  assert  that  mental  excitement,  and  money-making,  and  sedentary 
employments  are  the  real  criminals,  and  that  something  is  due  to  the 
laws  of  inheritance  even  in  this  unentailing  country.  Till  my  intro 
duction  to  the  Governor  of  New  York,  I  did  not  know  that  each 
State  has  a  Governor.  Governor  Seymour  lives  at  Alban}^.  Some 
of  these  Governors  are  only  elected  for  two  years,  and  this  gentle 
man  does  credit  to  popular  choice. 

What  is  likely  to  be  the  effect  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  upon  the 
Slavery  question  ?  Some  intelligent  men  appear  to  think  it  is  as 
much  a  political  catch  as  some  of  those  divisions  in  our  House  of 
Commons  which  are  rendered  nugatory  by  after  divisions  ;  and  that 
it  has  roused  the  feelings  of  the  enlightened  and  liberals,  who  con 
sider  the  question  as  one  merely  of  time,  a  disease  requiring  only  the 
treatment  of  wise  and  not  too  hasty  physicians, — perhaps  this  appa 
rently  retrograde  step  will  ultimately  hasten  the  desired  change. 
One  kind  person,  who  is  a  planter,  told  me  he  has  no  other  wish 
than  to  see  his  black  children  able  to  use  the  gift  of  themselves, 
which  few  deny  to  be  their  right,  if  they  can  use  it ;  but,  like  cur 
Colonies,  they  must  become  men  in  experience  and  intelligence  be 
fore  they  can  take  care  of  themselves,  and  I  am  already  inclined  to 


THE    VEXED    QUESTION.  89 

hope  that  the '  Legrees '  are  as  much  exceptional  beings,  as  idle  and 
profligate  landholders  among  ourselves.  In  saying  this,  I  know  you 
will  not  think  me  upholding  Slavery ;  Christianity  will  and  must 
subdue  it — not  by  teaching  us  to  vilify  and  persecute  those  less  for 
tunate  of  our  brethren  who  have  had  the  curse  of  human  possessions 
entailed  upon  them— but  by  enlightening  the  darkened,  and  instructing 
the  ignorant ;  and  even  ( if  that  should  be  necessary  )  making  such 
property  valueless  in  a  commercial  point  of  view.  No  individual  sel 
fishness,  and  no  political  intrigues,  can  prevent  the  wished-for  con 
summation  ;  and  I  firmly  believe  there  are  few,  very  few,  even  in  the 
South,  who  will  not  hail  with  joy  the  moment  of  emancipation — a 
movement  at  present  delayed  by  doubts  and  fears.  This  is  my  first 
view  of  a  vexed  question  ;  I  may  alter  it — I  may  change  it  altoge 
ther;  but  in  the  mean  while,  such  as  it  is,  I  give  it. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  Y. 

THE     WHITE     MOUNTAINS    TOUR. 

ALTON  BAY,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  ) 
August  17.  j 

Mr  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

Owing  to  a  mistake  about  the  railroad  hour,  I  am  here, 
instead  of  at  the  most  frequented  end  of  Lake  Winnipiseogee,  in 
what  is  considered  a  wild  village ;  but  this  simple  little  hotel  called 
Winnipiseogee  House  is  clean,  and  much  more  comfortable  than 
any  out-of-the-way  Scotch  inns  I  ever  was  at ;  and  it  is  well  to  see 
here  a  specimen  of  the  wonderful  industry  of  this  people — railroads 
down  to  the  very  water.  I  forgot  to  mention  that  before  we  left 
Boston,  Dr.  Gray  took  me  to  see  Faneuil  Hall  (Huguenot  name), 
built,  as  a  public  gift  to  the  town  of  Boston  in  old  times,  by  a  mer 
chant.  It  is  the  place  where  the  first  public  meeting  was  held 
during  the  Revolution ;  and  there  is  a  large  picture  of  Webster 
speaking  in  Congress  upon  the  Nullification  question.  It  is  well 
painted  for  its  purpose,  and  the  portraits  are  considered  like.  I 
afterwards  made  a  sketch  of  the  oldest  house  in  Boston,  now  a  shop, 
the  date  1683.  Rather  before  two  o'clock  we  left  in  the  railway 
cars  for  Winnipiseogee.  The  line  goes  through  a  country  much 
resembling  English  park  scenery ;  glades  and  woods  and  singletrees, 
sugar  maples,  red  maples,  hemlock  spruce,  Weymouth  pines,  black, 
white  and  red  oak,  with  creeping  juniper,  and  occasionally  wild 
vines,  which  associate  ideas  of  high  cultivation  with  the  landscape 


RAILWAY    ARRANGEMENTS.  41 

in  an  English  mind,  from  such  things  not  being  indigenous   in  our 
country.     We  passed  through  towns  and  villages  called  Charlestown, 
Somerville,  EJgware,  Maiden,  Melrose,  Reading,  Andover,  Haverhill, 
Newton,  Kingston,  Exeter,  Newmarket,  Durham,  Dover,  Berwick, 
Portland,  Rochester,  New  Durham,  and  Alton,  and  these  following, 
as  I  have  written  them,  to  the  utter  confusion  of  English  geography. 
Among  them  were  some  Indian  names,  much  more  beautiful  and 
appropriate  to  this  country.     Swampscot,  Cochego,  Scournamagowie 
(how  like  Scournalapich,  in  Ross-shire),  Agawam,  &c.,  &c.     At  Do 
ver,  after  passing  the  Miramachi  river,  we  changed  cars,  and  entered 
a  branch  railroad  for  Alton  Bay.     This  was  very  slow,  as  it  stopped 
at  several  stations  for  mercantile  purposes ;  and  though  we  left  at 
five,  we  did  not  arrive  till  after  eight  o'clock,  having  been  more  than 
three  hours  going  about  twenty-five  miles ;  but  the  route  was  pret 
ty  :  sometimes  cut  through  a  drift  of  sand,  containing  boulders  of 
granite,  with  large  plates  of  mica,  it  occasionally  reminded  me  of 
the  forest  of  Fontainebleau,  but  without  fine  timber,  this  forest  being 
all  young ;  no  trees  looked  older  than  thirty  or  forty  years.     We 
had  a  hospitable  welcome ;  clean  rooms  and  beds,  charges  moderate. 
Here,  for  the  first  time,  I  see  hand-lamps  in  which  a  mixture  of  cam- 
phine  and  alcohol  is  used ;  it  burns  clearly,  and  gives  a  pleasant 
light.     This  camphine  is  chiefly  manufactured  from  turpentine  col 
lected  in  the  pine  woods  of  North  Carolina. 

August  1 8.— Before  breakfast,  I  sketched  the  lake,  &c.,  from 
my  window.  A  large  quantity  of  wood  lay  about  in  all  directions, 
for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  car  engines  and  lake  steamers  with 
fuel,  wood  only  being  used :  the  railroad  carriages  are  never  called 
by  any  other  name  than  cars ;  they  are  more  like  movable  galleries ; 
in  some  respects  I  prefer  them  to  carriages ;  they  are  more  airy,  and 
the  seats,  holding  two  all  down  each  side  of  the  centre,  are  roomy 
and  comfortable.  A  cord  runs  along  the  middle  of  the  roof,  by 
which  the  driver  may  be  communicated  with  ;  it  is  out  of  the  reach 
of  children  :  there  is  a  conductor,  who  walks  backwards  and  forwards 
between  the  long  cars,  which  I  imagine  convey  from  sixty  to  eighty 
passengers  in  each ;  these  are  occasionally  refreshed  by  an  Aquarius, 
3* 


42  THE    PAPER    BIRCH. 

walking  with  his  little  fountain  of  iced  water,  distributing  it  liberally 
at  the  cost  of  the  Company.  Even  this  small  and  not  very  much 
frequented  place  has  not  only  a  railroad  which  takes  one  down  nearly 
to  the  landing-place,  but  also  a  branch  off  it,  to  convey  wood.  Cer 
tainly,  Americans  are  very  purpose-like  and  industrious,  and  I  have 
as  yet  met  with  nothing  but  what  has  been  polite,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  unintentional  rudeness  of  two  or  three  country  people 
here,  who  established  themselves  at  the  window  listening  to  our 
conversation,  and  asking  for  my  sketch- books ;  but  it  was  in  the 
simplicity  of  their  hearts ;  they  meant  no  ill,  and  were  only  doing 
as  they  would  be  done  by.  Here, I  was  sorry  to  part  with  Dr.  Gray, 
who  kindly  came  so  far  to  put  me  in  the  way  of  American  travel ; 
but  he  first  drove  me  in  a  '  wagon'  about  two  miles'  distance,  to  see 
an  extensive  view  of  the  lake,  which  must  be  from  seventy  to  eighty 
miles  round,  with  deep  indentations,  and  numerous  islands  thickly 
clothed  by  wood ;  which,  not  being  of  a  size  to  pay  for  transport,  is 
left  undisturbed.  I  did  not  observe  any  of  them  to  be  inhabited. 

I  am  rather  pleased  that  our  mistake  about  the  train  from  Bos 
ton  caused  us  to  come  here  instead  of  to  a  place  called  the  Weir ; 
as  from  hence  I  shall  go  the  whole  length  of  the  lake,  instead  of 
only  about  twelve  miles  to  Centre  Harbour,  the  point  from  which  I 
am  to  visit  the  White  Mountains.  In  going  up  the  hill  I  saw  a  fine 
paper  birch.  Those  trees  are  numerous  here,  and  Dr.  Gray  took  off 
some  sheets  for  me  to  draw  upon :  it  is  prettily  shaded,  and  easily 
takes  either  pencil  or  colour ;  being  both  tough  and  soft,  it  comes 
off  in  layers.  I  can  easily  imagine  how  the  Indians  make  canoes 
and  all  sorts  of  things  of  it ;  the  tree  is  handsome,  with  larger  leaves 
than  ours  has,  and  a  still  whiter  stem.  I  found,  too,  the  high  black 
berry,  a  handsome  shrub;  and  a  witch  hazel,  different  from  ours. 
Upon  a  beautiful  spot  overlooking  the  lake,  we  came  to  a  house,  de 
serted  by  its  inhabitants  about  a  year  ago.  The  doors  and  windows 
were  still  perfectly  good,  and  of  a  size  far  beyond  a  cottager's  abode 
in  England.  In  a  week  I  could  have  made  it  comfortable  enough 
to  live  in.  A  boy  told  us  the  owners  had  built  one  larger,  and  in  a 
more  sheltered  situation.  The  first  steamer  had  departed  just  as  we 


CENTRE    HARBOUR.  43 

returned,  and  it  was  four  o'clock  when  Dr.  Gray  entered  the  train, 
to  return  to  Boston.  R and  I  went  on  board  a  very  comforta 
ble,  clean  boat,  called  the  Dover.  There  were  not  many  people  on 
board.  One  American  gentleman,  who  had  been  in  England,  Scot 
land,  Ireland,  and  apparently  all  over  the  world,  came  and  talked  to 
me,  and  then  presented  his  card  before  landing  at  Wolfsborough. 
At  first  the  lake  reminded  me  of  some  of  ours,  but  it  soon  widened 
out  so  as  to  be  on  a  grander  scale;  and,  with  its  numerous  islands 
and  mountain  background,  I  thought  it  exceedingly  beautiful.  It 
was  twilight  before  we  landed  at  Centre  Harbour,  the  sun  having 
made  a  glorious  setting.  We  found  a  very  comfortable  hotel  here. 

August  19. — Early  this  morning,  I  went  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

T and  a  party,  in  a  kind  of  char-a-banc,  which  held  nine,  to 

Red  Hill,  so  called  from  the  brilliant  colour  of  the  foliage  late  in  the 
year.  I  refused  to  drive  up  the  ascent,  and  therefore  paused  at  a 
small  farm  to  draw.  The  family  consisted  of  a  grandmother  and 
several  sons,  with  a  married  daughter  and  children.  The  old  woman 
was  very  obliging ;  she  let  me  taste  a  cheese  she  was  making,  and 
gave  me  a  seat  at  the  door,  where  there  was  a  beautiful  view.  The 
daughter  soon  came  down  stairs;  she  looked  delicate,  as  almost  all 
American  women  do ;  and  I  was  amused  at  the  simplicity  with 
which  she  informed  me  that  she  should  like  to  take  the  pattern  of 
my  gown,  as  it  was  exactly  what  she  wanted  ;  so  I  gave  her  leave 
to  get  her  paper  and  scissors  for  the  purpose,  and  she  accepted  my 
permission  quite  as  a  matter  of  course.  This  evening  I  saw  seven 
or  eight  cows  driven  by  the  owner,  who  occupied  a  gig.  He  was  a 
respectable  looking  man,  with  a  good  horse,  which  he  drove,  ad 
libitum,  first  on  one  side  the  road,  and  then  over  the  turf  or  into  the 
ditch  on  the  other  side ! 

After  considering  different  routes,  I  am  inclined  to  go  by  Conway 
to-morrow  to  the  Notch,  instead  of  Plymouth.  I  got  a  yellow  Gera- 
dia  to-day,  on  the  Red  Hill ;  it  is  a  beautiful  plant;  perhaps  it  is 
Geradia  quercifolia. 

August  20. —  Centre  Harbour. — Last  night  I  made  acquaintance 
with  a  brother  and  sister  of  a  gentleman  who  came  over  in  the  Can- 


44  MOUNT    WILLA.RD. 

ada  ;  we  determined  to  go  on  together  by  the  Con  way  House  route 
to  the  White  Mountains,  in  a  kind  of  char-d-banc  we  are  to  hire  for 
the  purpose,  instead  of  proceeding  by  coach  to  the  Weir  ( another 
place  on  this  lake),  and  there  taking  the  road  for  Plymouth.  We 
arrived  at  Comvay  House  before  three  o'clock,  having  been  long  in 
making  the  journey  of  thirty  miles,  owing  to  a  very  hilly  road,  near 
ly  all  the  way  through  deep  sand.  The  drive  was  hot  and  dusty, 
but  very  beautiful,  through  woods  and  by  lakes ;  one  called  Long 
Pond,  another  Six-Mile  Pond,  &c.  I  could  have  supposed  myself  in 
Scotland,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Loch  Awe,  or  the  Garry  Lochs, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  paper  birch,  sugar  maples,  &c.,  &c.,  and  the 
undergrowth  of  scrub  oak — a  very  pretty  shrub,  which  I  have  not 
before  seen.  There  were  no  horses  to  take  us  on,  after  our  dinner  at 
Horace  Fabian's  house,  therefore  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to  go 
very  early  to-morrow  (Sunday),  so  as  to  get  to  Crauford  House,  at 
the  Notch,  White  Mountains,  by  one  o'clock. 

We  left  Con  way  this  morning,  August  20th,  at  six  o'clock,  in  a 
very  comfortable  open  carriage,  with  three  horses ;  such  a  beautiful 
drive  !  The  country  resembles  Braemar,  near  Invercauld,  but  is  still 
finer,  as  the  mountains  are  higher  and  the  foliage  is  more  varied. 
We  passed  the  Willow-house,  out  of  which  an  unfortunate  family 
of  nine  persons  fled,  a  few  years  ago,  to  avoid  a  slip  in  the  moun 
tains.  The  house  was  untouched,  and  these  poor  people  were  buried 
alive  by  the  falling  stones  a  short  distance  from  it.  We  arrived  at 
the  hotel  in  good  time ;  I  found  some  acquaintances  there,  and  was 
induced  to  accompany  them  in  a  char-a-banc,  drawn  by  six  horses, 
to  the  summit  of  Mount  Willard.  Having  once  embarked  in  the 
undertaking,  I  was  ashamed  to  insist  upon  being  let  off;  but  the  as 
cent  was  really  a  tremendous  one  for  any  vehicle  whatever  ;  and  how 
we  ever  got  safely  up  and  down  again,  is  a  marvel  to  me.  This 
house  is  full  of  people,  but  all  is  comfortably  arranged.  I  like  one 
American  plan,  of  paying  for  inn  accommodation ;  no  bill  of  items 
is  ever  given.  The  payment  is  at  the  rate  of  three  or  four  dollars 
a-day,  and  there  is  an  end  of  it.  This  saves  much  trouble  and  time. 
Dining  is  not  cheap  at  those  hotels ;  but  those  who  keep  them  for 


A    HASTY   JUDGMENT.  45 

the  convenience  of  travellers  must  have  a  certain  sum ;  and  what 
does  it  signify  whether  this  is  charged  for  wax  candles  or  for  bread- 
and-butter  ? 

August  21. — A  party  went  off  this  morning  by  eight  o'clock  to 
ascend  Mount  Washington  on  horseback;  and  perhaps  to  spend  the 
night  there ;  but  I  resisted  all  temptation  to  join  it,  having  quite 
enough  to  amuse  and  occupy  me  below.  Another  beautiful  day — 
beautiful  for  us,  but  not  for  the  poor  farmers,  who  feel  the  present 
drought.  Most  of  the  streams  and  waterfalls  are  dry  ;  but  we  are 
ready  to  compound  for  some  loss  of  picturesque  effect  for  the  sake  of 
the  charming  weather.  Yesterday  I  ate  sweet  potatoes  at  dinner ; 
they  taste  very  like  chestnuts.  Such  things  are  not  grown  here,  but 
come  from  the  South.  I  find  extreme  civility  and  attention  from  all 
the  waiters  and  attendants  in  the  White  Mountain  hotels.  On  the 
whole,  my  impression  of  the  American  people  has  been  hitherto  far 
more  agreeable  than  I  expected.  One  gentleman,  at  Centre  House, 
held  forth  upon  the  backwardness  of  England,  and  about  her  insti 
tutions  having  been  stationary  for  the  last  two  hundred  years.  I 
asked  him  whether  he  had  ever  visited  the  country,  and  upon  his 
allowing  he  had  not,  I  advised  him  to  defer  making  up  his  opinion 
until  he  had  had  a  fair  opportunity  of  judging.  I  do  not  think  his  no 
tions  were  sympathized  with  by  those  who  were  around  us.  The  ever 
lasting  rocking-chairs  among  the  ladies  make  me  quite  dizzy,  and  give 
me  a  sea-sick  feeling  :  and  the  custom  raises  an  idea  of  want  of  ra 
tional  occupation,  without  even  the  doubtful  satisfaction  of  a  '  dolce 
far  niente.1  The  broad  English  farmer-like  pronunciation  is  also  un 
pleasant  to  English  ears;  but  good-humour  and  the  laws  of  kindness 
have  prevailed  wherever  I  have  yet  been,  united  to  a  higher  general 
intelligence  than  among  the  majority  of  our  population.  The  differ 
ence  between  us  appears  to  be  that  our  highest  classes  have  more 
principle,  elegance,  and  refinement ;  the  women  more  energy  and 
activity,  and  the  men  more  athletic  amusements ;  while  our  middle 
and  lower  classes  are  less  highly  educated,  perhaps  rather  more  nar 
row  minded,  and  physically,  work  harder  ;  although,  in  some  respects, 
I  think  the  Americans  wear  themselves  out  sooner,  particularly  those 


40  THE    PROFILE    HOUSE. 

occupied  in  manufactures  or  mercantile  affairs.  The  race  and  the 
appearance  of  horses  is  an  example  which  runs  through  everything 
here.  There  are  none  so  perfect  as  our  most  perfect ;  but  the  ani 
mals  generally  go  better,  and  are  better  fed  than  second  or  third-rate 

horses  in  England.     I  had  a  pleasant  walk  with  Mr.  T ,  who  was 

very  kind  in  helping  me  over  difficulties,  and  patient  in  waiting  while 
I  drew  or  hunted  for  plants.  I  found  Trilliums  in  seed,  and  the 
roots  of  some  kind  of  Epiphyte,  and  a  beautiful  little  creeping  ever 
green  (Chiogenes)  on  the  rotten  trunks  of  trees;  many  other  forms 
were  new  to  my  eyes.  The  party  who  went  up  the  mountain  have 
returned,  excepting  one  lady  and  some  gentlemen,  who  determined 
to  pass  the  night  in  a  little  hotel  there,  to  see  the  sun  rise.  All  were 
much  fatigued,  and  a  storm  of  wind  and  a  foggy  morning  disappoint 
ed  those  who  had  adventured  an  uncomfortable  night. 

August  23. — My  acquaintances  invited  me  to  join  a  party  of  ten 
in  an  open  char-d-banc  to  go  on  to  the  Profile  House,  about  twenty 

five  miles,  at  Franconia.     We  started  as  soon  as  Mrs.  P came 

down  from  Mount  Washington,  about  three  o'clock.  The  drive  was 
beautiful,  just  our  Highlands  upon  rather  a  greater  scale  as  to  forests 
and  torrents;  with  mountains  about  the  height  of  those  round  Brae- 
mar.  Smoke  rose  in  all  directions  from  the  burning  trees.  We 
passed  close  to  one  of  considerable  size,  which  was  on  fire  at  the  bot 
tom,  with  flames  creeping  up  the  trunk  and  peeping  out  of  holes.  It 
was  dark  before  we  reached  the  Profile  House,  an  hotel  built,  as 
usual  in  this  country,  upon  a  very  large  scale ;  the  saloon  or  drawing- 
room  I  should  imagine  at  least  thirty-eight  feet  square,  and  the  din 
ing-room  sixty  feet  long.  There  are  probably  eighty  travellers  ac 
commodated  here  at  this  moment.  Streams  of  visitors  usually  suc 
ceed  each  other  for  about  three  months  ;  but  during  the  rest  of  the 
year  few  people  come  to  this  mountainous  district.  After  breakfast 
to-day,  our  party  set  off  in  the  char-ct-banc  with  four  horses,  to  see 
the  waterfalls  and  the  Valley  of  the  Flume  ;  passing  by  the  moun 
tain  Profile  and  lake.  A  legend  is  attached  to  the  latter,  which  says, 
that  all  who  rise  early  enough  may  see  the  old  man  of  the  mountain 
take  his  bath  in  the  lake.  The  scenery  round  the  Flume  House  is 
so  fine,  that  I  mean  to  remove  there,  five  miles  from  hence,  to-mor- 


FOREST    FIRES.  4  < 

row  ;  and  I  shall  join  an  American  acquaintance,  Miss  F ,  who 

has  been  much  in  England,  and  who  likes  drawing  and  rambling  as 
much  as  I  do.  I  shall  be  the  more  willing  to  exchange  my  quarters, 
as  the  friends  I  have  travelled  with  from  Lake  Winnipiseogee  re 
turn  to  their  homes  at  Boston  to-morrow.  This  afternoon  we  rowed 
upon  the  Echo  Lake,  and  heard  all  its  reverberations  of  horns,  and 
cannon,  and  voices,  which  are  very  clear  and  distinct.  It  is  a  'pond' 
of  no  great  size,  but  deep — very  deep.  Before  tea  I  walked  to  Pro 
file  Lake  to  finish  a  sketch,  and  look  for  flowers.  I  found  a  very 
sweet  and  pretty  yellow  Utricularia,  quite  new  to  me,  growing  at  the 
edge  of  the  water  ;  and  I  also  picked  a  copper-coloured  cotton-grass 
to-day,  near  the  Flume  House,  besides  a  beautiful  little  creeping 
plant  in  the  woods.  To-night,  the  forest  is  on  fire  upon  a  mountain 
just  above  this  house  ;  the  sight  is  grand,  but  rather  terrific.  These 
fires  are  believed  to  arise  from  carelessness,  or,  perhaps,  occasionally 
from  some  spirit  of  wanton  mischief.  They  can  only  be  extinguished 
by  heavy  rain  ;  and  now  the  underwood  is  so  very  dry,  much  dam 
age  may  be  done.  I  suppose  the  flames  we  have  been  watching  may 
be  at  two  miles'  distance;  but  if  the  wind  should  rise  and  drive  them 
down  towards  this  hotel,  I  should  be  alarmed  for  its  safety ;  being 
erected  entirely  of  wood,  sparks  falling  upon  it  would  be  very  danger 
ous.  For  some  days  past  we  have  observed  these  forest  fires  in  many 
directions.  Sometimes  they  are  intentional,  to  make  clearings,  but 
in  general  they  are  regretted  ;  and  I  feel  grieved  at  the  destruction 
of  the  beautiful  trees  and  underwood  which  thirty  years' growth  cannot 
replace. 

As  the  weather  continues  so  enjoyable  for  mountain  exercises,  I 
propose  to  remain  at  the  Flume  till  Monday  next;  then,  probably, 
we  shall  take  the  railroad,  ten  miles  from  thence,  and  visit  Lake 
George,  if  I  hear  that  Mr.  T is  there  ;  or  else  I  may  goby  Mon 
treal  to  Quebec,  putting  off  the  Falls  of  Niagara  until  after  my  re 
turn,  as  I  am  told  that  brilliant  autumn  tints  will  add  to  the  pictu 
resque  effect,  and  if  possible  increase  the  splendour  of  Niagara.  This 
evening  a  German  gentleman  played  on  the  piano  in  the  large  room, 
with  the  usual  taste  and  musical  knowledge  of  his  country,  and  some 


48  PROFILE    HOUSE. 

young  ladies  and  gentlemen  waltzed  quietly  and  gracefully.  All  the 
travellers  I  fall  in  with  are  civil  and  obliging.  I  have  not  had  as  yet 
the  least  reason  to  complain  of  want  of  attention  from  either  master 
or  servants.  I  am  told  I  may  be  less  fortunate  as  we  travel  further 
west  or  south  ;  but  hitherto  none  of  my  own  little  preparations  or 
conveniences  against  travelling  difficulties  have  been  in  requisition  ; 
the  only  thing  I  miss  is  good  household  bread.  There  seems  to  be 
no  such  article  in  use  ;  nothing  but  new  soft  rolls  and  biscuits,  and 
buckwheat  cakes,  which  are  so  like  our  pancakes,  that  I  mistook 
them  for  something  of  that  kind.  So  much  for  eatables.  As  to 
drinkables,  I  have  hardly  observed  any  one  gentleman  or  lady  take 
any  other  beverage  than  iced- water,  milk,  or  tea.  It  is  said  that  all 
classes  of  men  make  great  use  of  brandy,  but  I  have  not  seen  any  of 
it  drunk  ;  and  as  to  smoking,  it  is  not  more  general  here  than  in  Eng 
land.  It  is  not  made  half  as  disagreeable  as  in  Germany. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 

P.  S. — This  letter  will  be  conveyed  to  Boston  to-morrow  morn* 
ing.  I  have  not  any  time  to  read  over  what  I  have  written,  there 
fore  repetitions  are  probable.  I  have  little  chance  of  hearing  from 
England  till  I  reach  Canada,  and  the  month  since  I  left  it  appears 
four  times  as  long,  from  having  already  seen  so  many  new  faces 
and  fresh  places.  Very  little  public  news  has  reached  me,  and  I  feel 
anxious  about  the  Baltic  fleet,  particularly  as  I  hear  that  cases  of 
cholera  have  occurred  on  board  the  St.  Jean  $  Acre. 


LETTER  VI. 


PLEASANT    RAMBLES. 


FLUME  HOUSB,  WHITE  MOUNTAINS,  NEW  ) 
HAMPSHIRE,  U.  S.    August  25.  i 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  came  here  yesterday  from  the  Profile  House,  in  one  of  the 
usual  char-a-bancs  j  some  friends  went  the  other  way  on  their  return 
home,  but  I  found  all  my  new  compagnons  de  voyage  obliging  and 
agreeable.  As  the  distance  was  only  five  or  six  miles,  I  requested 
to  be  left  to  sketch  rocks  and  a  waterfall  by  the  roadside,  about  half 
of  that  distance,  where  the  mountain-torrent  has  worn  the  granite 
into  a  singular  bowl.  After  trying  almost  fruitlessly  to  give  some 
idea  of  the  place,  I  enjoyed  a  pleasant  walk  through  the  still  and 
tranquil  forest,  with  a  sense  of  the  most  perfect  security.  No  fear  of 
Indian  tomahawk,  or  wild  or  uncivil  or  riotous  human  beings ;  no*, 
a  reptile  of  any  kind  to  prevent  me  from  going  into  the  bush  and 
bog  after  flowers ;  even  bears  are  now  hardly  ever  seen  in  these  woods, 
though  it  is  said  that  one  has  made  its  way  to  a  patch  of  corn  near 
this  house.  I  think  there  is  no  positive  proof  that  some  tamer  ani 
mal  was  not  the  marauder.  When  I  reached  this  hotel,  I  found 

R comfortably  settled,  and  my  things  in  a  pleasant  room  with 

a  verandah,  looking  upon  an  extensive  view  on  two  sides.  I  have 
both  windows  wide  open  all  night,  without  feeling  any  draught, 
though  I  sleep  between  them  ;  and  yet  I  have  felt  no  heat  so  op 
pressive  as  that  of  a  warm  summer's  day  in  England. 


50  '  THE    FLUME.' 

August  26. — Yesterday,  I  much  enjoyed  the  fine  scenery.  A 
lady  who  has  passed  some  time  in  England  went  out  to  draw  with 

me ;  and  after  dinner,  Dr. and  Mrs.  B ,  both  kind  and 

pleasant  people,  accompanied  us  in  another  ramble.  What  is  called 
1  the  Flume'  is  very  fine;  and  the  waters  being  so  low,  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  walking  up  the  bed  of  the  torrent.  Enormous  tables  of 
granite  rock,  apparently  without  a  flaw  for  twenty  yards  together, 
bed  the  stream  in  an  easy  ascent  to  a  rocky  gorge,  where  an  im 
mense  boulder,  almost  circular,  hangs  suspended  overhead,  jammed 
in  between  two  cliffs.  How  fine  it  must  be,  when  the  water  roars 
down  this  chasm  !  though  a  drought  now  enables  us  to  see  the  chan 
nel  more  completely ;  and  at  another  point  called  the  Dell,  a  steep 
descent  brings  one  down  to  a  pool  of  twenty  or  thirty  feet  in  depth, 
clear  as  crystal ;  here,  a  rude  boat  has  been  established  by  an  old 
man  and  his  wife,  with  their  son ;  for  this  little  emerald-coloured 
mountain  *  tarn'  is  of  sufficient  size  to  paddle  about  in  it. 

The  larger  drawing-room  in  this  hotel,  is  fitted  up  with  every 
comfort,  and  there  is  an  excellent  piano.  The  evening  party  was 
large,  perhaps  from  forty  to  fifty ;  an  elephant  well  manufactured 
out  of  two  bipeds  walked  in  to  amuse  the  children  ;  one  of  the  house- 
attendants  played  quadrilles  very  fairly  on  the  violin ;  two  sets  were 
made  up  for  dancing :  some  young  ladies  also  sang  in  tune  and 
very  sweetly  together.  Attached  to  both  this  house  and  the  Notch, 
there  are  bowling  alleys  under  cover,  where  ladies  and  gentlemen 
can  take  exercise  and  amusement  in  wet  weather.  On  the  whole,  I 
doubt  whether  in  England  as  large  and  heterogeneous  a  society  ac 
cidentally  gathered  together,  would  conduct  itself  with  so  much  good 
humour  and  propriety  as  that  which  I  find  here.  All  converse  with 
out  introduction,  yet  I  have  seen  nothing  like  forwardness  or  vulgar 
ity  of  manner  :  though  there  is  a  degree  of  restraint  and  stiffness,  I 
find  myself  much  more  at  home  than  I  should  be  in  any  hotel,  either 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe  or  in  the  British  Isles — it  is  more  like 
the  freedom  of  a  very  large  country-house  in  England.  This  pecu 
liarity  of  American  manners  I  have  never  heard  mentioned — and  it 
is  certainly  a  striking  one.  I  hear  the  gong  going  its  rounds  to 


THE    WHITE    MOUNTAINS.  51 

awaken  tlie  sleeping,  as  we  breakfast  at  seven  o'clock,  and  at  as  early 
as  six  a  gong. is  sounded  ;  the  same  custom  prevailed  at  the  Profile 
House,  which  belongs  to  the  person  who  has  this  hotel  also.  I  go 
to  bed  at  nine  or  soon  after,  and  get  up  with  the  light. 

August  26. — We  had  rain  yesterday,  the  first  which  has  fallen 
in  this  mountain  region  for  three  months ;  and  it  gave  me  an  op 
portunity  of  seeing  how  a  wet  day  is  got  through  here.  After 
breakfast,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  agreeable  music,  to  which  the 
whole  company  listened  with  enjoyment ;  two  or  three  young  ladies 
and  one  gentleman  sang  duets  and  trios  and  lively  songs  very  well. 
Afterwards,  a  large  party  adjourned  to  the  house  appropriated  to 
bowling :  there  are  three  alleys,  and  slides  for  the  return  of  balls ; 
the  game  was  played  with  sides  :  it  is  a  good  exercise.  After  join 
ing  in  one  game,  I  left  them,  the  weather  having  rather  improved, 
and  went  out  with  my  umbrella  and  sketch-book, — as  I  was  anxious 
to  see  a  view  overlooking  the  house.  I  got  drenched,  but  succeeded 
in  my  wishes,  and  after  dressing,  I  went  down  stairs  to  a  comfortable 
wood-fire  in  one  of  the  smaller  parlours.  Before  tea  there  was  some 
needlework  going  on,  a  whist-table  (but  no  one  plays  for  money 
here),  and  a  young  lady  played  nursery  songs  at  the  piano,  six  little 
children  belonging  to  different  visitors  joining  their  voices  in  the 
choruses,  one  as  young  as  four,  but  all  were  in  tune,  and  seemed  to 
enjoy  it  much.  After  tea,  there  was  again  music  and  dancing,  and 
I  played  a  rubber  of  whist  with  two  gentlemen  and  a  lady  till  bed 
time.  One  of  the  gentlemen  had  lent  me  a  Boston  paper  contain 
ing  the  last  news  from  Europe,  by  which  it  appears  that  the  Island 
of  Aland  and  the  Crimea  are  both  under  attack.  Some  of  the  people 
here  are  Southerners,  and  two  families  have  black  nurses. 

These  mountains  attract  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the  Union,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  the  summer  meetings — either  here,  at  Newport, 
Nahant,  Saratoga,  or  the  Virginia  Springs — tend  much  to  promote 
acquaintanceship  and  good  feeling  among  the  different  States,  whicli 
vary  so  much  in  their  internal  laws  and  regulations.  Bigamy  is 
severely  punished  in  nearly  all,  while  polygamy  has  been  hitherto 
not  only  permitted  but  encouraged  among  the  Mormons.  Yet  I 


52  THE    MORMONS. 

am  told  that  the  Mormon  delegate  to  Congress  is  thought  a  sensible 
and  intelligent  man,  though  he  has  seven  wives !  but  it  seems  to  be 
hoped  that  much  time  will  not  elapse  before  the  immorality  and 
absurdities  introduced  by  Smith  and  Young,  and  hitherto  enforced 
upon  their  deluded  followers,  will  be  cast  off.  At  present  their  pol 
ity  is  a  kind  of  spiritual  despotism ;  yet  it  is  generally  admitted  that 
their  community  is  orderly  and  very  industrious;  though  as  no  man 
can  leave  his  property  to  his  children  or  relations,  it  falls  to  the 
church  upon  his  death,  and  the  accumulation  of  such  riches  must 
strengthen  the  power  of  the  priestly  Mormons,  and  enable  them  to 
keep  their  people  in  subjection  for  a  considerable  time  to  come.  I 
do  not  yet  understand  how  this  accumulation  of  property  is  to  be 
applied. 

August  '2*1. — There  is  a  chapel  here,  which  is  used  if  any  cler 
gyman  who  is  travelling  can  do  duty ;  but  that  not  being  the  case 
to-day,  service  was  not  read.  No  church  is  within  an  accessible 
number  of  miles.  After  dinner,  two  or  three  families,  consisting  of 
seventeen  individuals,  went  away  for  the  purpose  of  sleeping  to-night 
at  Plymouth,  twenty-five  miles  distant,  to  catch  a  railroad  there 
early  to-morrow,  or,  as  it  is  here  expressed,  'to  meet  the  cars.' 
Nearly  all  the  travellers  and  inmates  gathered  at  the  door  to  see 
the  party  off,  and  to  wish  them  good-bye,  although  many  had  met 
here  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives.  Greater  cordiality  and  kindness 
of  feeling  was  evinced  on  this  occasion  than  I  ever  saw  before  among 
people  so  new  to  each  other.  But  I  am  told  that  in  hotels  in  and 
near  great  towns,  there  is  little  of  that  frankness  and  cordiality  which 
have  so  pleasingly  impressed  me  at  the  White  Mountains. 

The  weather  was  again  fine  to-day,  and  in  the  afternoon  I  walked 
alone  up  the  Flume.  It  is  the  bed  of  a  torrent  which  comes  down 
a  very  picturesque  defile :  now,  while  the  water  is  low,  one  can 
walk  along  the  wide,  smooth,  granite  tabular  rocks,  which  during 
the  winter  are  covered  by  the  foaming  waters.  I  never  saw  such 
huge  masses  of  granite  before :  it  is  very  white  and  large  grained  ; 
and  as  I  saw  no  mica,  I  suppose  it  may  be  sienite.  When  I  re 
turned  home,  some  of  the  people  had  got  what  they  called  a  hedge- 


WELLS    RIVER.  53 

hog,  just  caught  in  the  woods ;  I  did  not  see  it  very  near,  but  as  it 
was  the  size  of  a  small  pig,  I  conclude  it  must  have  been  some  species 
of  porcupine. 

August  28. — This  morning  Miss  F and  I  got  to  the  top  of 

Pemmewhasset,  a  mountain  above  this  house,  from -which  there  is  a 
charming  view  up  and  down  the  valley  of  the  Saca.  The  ascent 
was  gradual  and  easy,  but  we  did  not  reach  the  Hotel  again  till 
long  after  dinner-time ;  and  though  we  met  a  party  going  up  on 
horseback,  we  did  not  regret  having  trusted  to  our  own  feet,  which 
is  much  pleasanter  than  riding,  and  enables  one  to  look  after  plants, 
besides  which,  I  feel  more  safe,  and  by  sitting  down  frequently  to 
rest,  the  fatigue  is  not  very  much  greater  than  on  horseback.  After 
our  return,  the  weather  cleared  sufficient!)'  for  me  to  see  an  exten 
sive  view  of  the  valley  from  my  window,  which  has  hitherto  been 
hid  by  smoke  and  clouds;  and  I  made  a  sketch  from  the  verandah. 
The  coach  brought  many  more  visitors,  among  them  a  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

C ,  from  the  South,  who  will  go  on  with  me  to-morrow  as  far 

as  Plymouth,  and  I  am  by  and  bye  to  try  if  I  can  visit  them  at 
Appalachicola,  in  Florida. 

August  29. — I  proceed  this  morning  after  breakfast,  at  eight 
o'clock,  for  Burlington,  going  round  by  Plymouth  instead  of  Lyttle- 
ton,  to  avoid  returning  ten  miles  by  the  same  route  which  brought 
me  here  ;  and  I  thus  see  the  Saco  valley,  which  I  am  told  is  beau 
tiful. 

August  30. —  Wells  River,  New  Hampshire. — This  is  so  pretty 
a  place,  that  I  determined  to  stop  here  at  three  o'clock  yesterday, 
and  go  on  to-morrow  by  the  eleven  o'clock  cars,  which  will  reach 
Burlington  by  five.  I  have  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Vermont,  who 
lives  within  a  mile  or  two  of  that  place  ;  it  is  on  Lake  Champlain. 
The  weather  is  again  perfect.  I  spent  all  yesterday  evening  walking 
about  and  sketching.  The  people  here  vie  with  one  another  in 
kindness  and  civility,  yet  I  have  been  troubled  with  nothing  unpleas 
antly  obtrusive.  From  the  Flume  House  we  came  hither  in  a  coach, 
with  six  active  horses  well  driven  in  hand.  It  carried  eighteen  pas 
sengers,  nine  inside  and  nine  outside.  The  road,  through  deep  sand, 


BURLINGTON. 


runs  nearly  the  whole  way  by  the  River  Saco,  the  same  we  passed 
at  Conway.  I  am  told  it  flows  into  the  sea  somewhere  near  Port 
land,  and  that  this  valley  is  not  that  of  Merrimac,  but  Saco.  The 
Merrimac  river  is  the  outpouring  of  Lake  Winnipiseogee.  We  had 
observed  it  flowing  by  Dover,  &c.,  as  we  came  from  Boston ;  it  is  a 

handsome  river.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  C ,  from  the  South,  and  six 

other  ladies,  all  agreeable  people,  were  my  companions  in  the  coach 
to  Plymouth.  We  dined  there ;  they  took  the  cars  for  Boston,  and 

R and  I  for  this  place.     A  smaller  and  a  larger  river  unite 

here;  the  Indian  name  of  one  is  Ammonoosuc.  I  hope  I  may  find 
out  the  translation  of  it,  for  these  Indian  names  have  always  some 
beautiful  meaning.  The  two  railroad  stations  are  almost  close  together : 
one  is  called  Woodsville,  arid  another  Wells  River  depot — the  word 
used  in  America.  The  hills  around,  well  wooded,  but  with  openings 
and  rocks  enough  to  be  picturesque,  are  tossed  about  in  every  direc 
tion.  A.11  this  country  is  called  granitic  on  Marcou's  geological 
map ;  but  we  passed  through  a  cutting  yesterday  which  looked 
more  like  something  Silurian  ;  it  might  have  been  a  mica  schist  of 
some  kind.  The  breakfast  hour  here  is  half-past  six ;  and  before  I 
start  for  Burlington  by  the  eleven  o'clock  cars,  Mr.  Wild,  the  master 
of  this  Wells  House  Hotel  (he  was  born  and  brought  up  in  the 
White  Mountains,  between  the  Notch  and  Profile  Houses),  offers  to 
show  me  the  rapids  of  the  Connecticut  River. 

August  31. — Burlington, — I  had  a  pleasant,  though  hot  and 
dusty  journey  here  yesterday.  Notwithstanding  the  frequent  chang 
ing  of  cars,  which  occurs  sometimes  four  or  five  times  in  a  distance 
of  about  120  miles,  I  prefer  the  American  mode  of  travelling  in  long 
cars,  to  that  upon  our  railroads.  I  have  as  yet  seen  no  great  care 
lessness,  except  that  of  crossing  the  roads  with  no  other  warning 
than  large  boards  overhead,  on  each  side  with  a  notice  to  '  Look  out 
for  the  Engine,'  in  large  letters — (about  Boston  'while  the  bell  rings1 
is  added) ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  fireman,  or  the  conductor,  before 
and  after  passing  every  crossway,  to  ring  a  large  bell,  which  swings 
above  his  head ;  but  from  Plymouth  here,  I  have  heard  none  of 
these  bells.  The  long  cars,  which  on  an  average  carry  sixty  each, 


CONNECTICUT    RIVER.  55 

are  comfortable ;  you  may  turn  two  seats  so  as  to  face  each  other ; 
and  though  they  are  intended  to  accommodate  two  or  three  each, 

R and  I,  by  taking  possession  in  time,  have  always  been  left 

to  ourselves ;  and  even  if  you  have  a  dirty  or  disagreeable  neigh 
bour,  it  is  not  half  so  bad  at  any  time  as  the  Rhine  steam-boats — for 
no  smoking  is  allowed  in  these  cars.  They  are  very  airy,  and  have 
comfortable  seats.  There  is  a  sense  of  security,  too,  in  the  greater  width 
and  solidity,  and  the  power  of  ready  communication  with  every  part 
of  the  train.  I  may  change  my  opinion,  but  hitherto  I  have  found 
travelling  in  the  American  cars  less  fatiguing  than  in  our  railroad 
carriages. 

I  gained  some  information  from  Mr.  Wild,  in  our  walk  to  the 

rapids  before  leaving  Wells  River.  R and  I  set  off  with  him 

about  half-past  nine  o'clock.  When  we  got  to  the  descent  through 
thick  forest  down  to  the  river,  she  was  obliged  to  give  up  the 
attempt,  having  got  some  flowers  for  me,  and  too  much  in  her  hands 
for  the  scrambling  necessary,,  Between  the  drought  and  the  fir- 
choppings,  it  was  so  slippery  that  even  Mr.  Wild  fell  two  or  three 
times  i;-  giving  me  assistance;  and  I  was  often  obliged  to  take  to 
my  hands  and  knees,  from  not  being  able  to  keep  upon  my  feet ; 
however,  I  got  down  to  the  edge  of  the  river.  The  Connecticut 
widens  out  here,  looking  almost  like  a  lake,  and  then  rushes 
through  such  a  narrow  gorge  between  rocks,  that  an  active  hunter 
might  leap  his  horse  from  one  side  to  the  other.  In  winter,  it  must 
be  a  fine  rush ;  at  present,  the  river  is  so  low  that  it  can  get  through 
the  passage  quietly  enough.  I  find  that  three  rivers  meet  at  this 
point.  I  thought  there  were  only  two.  I  suppose,  therefore,  '  Three 
Rivers,'  which  I  found  marked  upon  a  map  I  have,  is  the  right  name 
of  the  place. 

We  returned  only  just  in  time  for  the  eleven  o'clock  train  ;  and 
as  there  is  no  other  for  Burlington,  to  have  missed  this  one  would  have 
been  inconvenient.  I  never  had  such  a  beautiful  drive  as  that  through 
the  whole  country  to  Lake  Champlain.  As  far  as  White  River 
junction,  it  follows  the  Connecticut  for  fifty  miles,  and  then  the 
White  River.  The  scenery  may  be  compared  alternately  to  that  of 


RATTLESNAKES. 


the  Tay,  the  Tweed,  and  the  Tamar,  but  still  finer  than  all  ;  with 
gardens,  ornamental  trees,  relieved  by  maples  now  getting  their 
scarlet  liveries,  foregrounds  of  maize  and  brilliant  orange  pumpkins, 
and  every  now  and  then  a  column  of  white  smoke  rising  from  the 
forest  fires.  These  Vermont  Mountains  are  not  higher  than  those 
around  Blair  and  Invercauld,  so  that  they  never  rise  into  the 
gigantic  peaks  of  the  Swiss  Alps  ;  but  they  are  very  lovely. 

°  On    reaching    Burlington,   though    nearly   dark,   the    master 
of    the   hotel    provided   me    with   a   safe   little  carriage  to  drive 
out  to  the  Bishop  of  Vermont's,  about  two  miles'  distance.     I  found 
him  with  his  family,  and  received  an  obliging  invitation  to  spend  the 
next  day  with  them.     There  is  not  much  to  be  seen  at  Burlington. 
I  have  heard  of  its  beauty,  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  lake,  it 
seems  a  sandy,  uninteresting  place—  the  lake  itself  looking  like  a 
sea  ;  and  it  would  take  seven  or  eight  hours  to  steam  rapidly  down 
it.    'l  find  myself  in  a  comfortable,  large  hotel,  well  provided  in  all 
respects.     At  ten  o'clock,  I  walked  with  R  --  out  to  the  Bishop's. 
I  did  not  see  a  great  many  flowers  on  our  way,  owing  to  the  vege 
tation  being  so  burned  up  ;  but  I  found  fine  trees  of  the  black  oak, 
covered  with  acorns  with  large  bumpy  cups  :  the  '  pigeon  grass  '  (so 
called  here),  and  a  pretty  little  vetch.     I  made  a  sketch  of  the  lake, 
and  of  Burlington,  from  the  Bishop's  verandah—  a  fine  eagle  soar 
ing   about  as  an  accessory  to  the  view  ;  and,  after  an  early  dinner, 
we  walked  down  to  a  beautiful  little  rocky  bathing  bay,  where  the 
children  disport  themselves  in  the  water  without  the  least^  fear  or 
danger.     Growing  among  sand  and  rocks,  a  pretty  Iris  in  seed. 
Whether  unknown  in  England  or  not,  I  cannot  tell  ;  but  in  going 
through  a  rocky  copse,  I  gathered  a  fern,  and  several  things  new  to 
my  eyes  ;    and  on  the  shore  I  picked  up  some  fresh-water  shells. 
I  understand  there  are  rattlesnakes  in  one  or  two  spots  in  this  neigh 
bourhood,  but  it  seems  they  have  so  large  a  bump  of  'locality,'  that 
they  remain  as  constant  to  particular  spots  as  flowers  to  their  habi 
tats.     So  that,  unless  one  goes  to  visit  them,  there  is  no  danger  of 
making  their  acquaintance;  therefore  I  shall  always  inquire  their 
whereabouts.     I  did  not  take  my  leave  till  near  eight  o'clock  at 
night. 


QUEBEC.  57 

September  2. —  Quebec,  Spencer  Wood. — As  I  left  Burlington  in 
the  steamer,  to  take  the  cars  at  Roches  Point,  by  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  arrived  at  Montreal  by  eleven,  and  left  for  Quebec  at  seven 

in  the  evening,  I  had  no  time  for  writing,  yesterday.     Dr.  L , 

the  professor  and  a  clergyman,  was  so  obliging  as  to  take  me  a  plea 
sant  drive  round  the  heights,  from  whence  we  had  a  fine  view  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  River  and  the  neighbourhood.  I  visited  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  and  the  Museum,  where  I  saw  some  stuffed  speci 
mens  of  the  wild  beasts  which  are  now  becoming  extinct  in  the  woods 
of  this  part  of  Canada.  I  saw  also  a  specimen  of  a  small  owl  which 
is  peculiar  to  these  parts. 

Before  seven  o'clock  we  went  on  board  the  steamer,  which  was 
very  full  of  passengers  for  Quebec.  Among  them  a  party  of  squaws 
and  Indian  boys  from  some  tract  bordering  upon  this  great  river : 
they  had  a  large  assortment  of  neat  and  showy  handiworks  in  beads 
for  sale — gentlemen's  travelling  caps,  bags,  slippers,  and  watch-cases, 
and  seemed  to  be  very  shrewd  and  cautious  in  carrying  on  their 
bargains,  though  I  could  not  make  them  understand  either  French, 
or  English.  I  do  not  know  when  they  *  absquatulated '  (to  use  a  Far 
West  expression),  but  as  we  stopped  several  times  during  the  night, 
and  I  did  not  see  them  afterwards,  I  suppose  they  landed  ^some 
where.  We  did  not  undress.  As  some  individuals  of  our  large 
party  in  the  ladies'  cabin  were  talking  or  moving  about  at  all  times 
during  the  night,  we  could  only  get  snatches  of  sleep  in  our  berths ; 
and  I  thought  this  night's  voyage  so  tiresome  and  tedious,  that  with 
the  first  dawn  of  light  I  went  on  deck;  but  owing  to  the  great 
width  of  the  river,  and  the  steamer  keeping  in  mid-channel,  we 
were  not  close  enough  to  either  shore  to  make  her  progress  interest 
ing.  I  think  the  St.  Lawrence  is  nearly  as  wide  as  Ullswater  is  long, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  we  are  traversing  a  river  instead  of 
crossing  a  lake.  I  saw  very  little  shipping  till  we  arrived  at  Quebec 
— a  few  lumber  schooners,  at  anchor  here  and  there,  but  nothing 
sailing;  very  different  this  from  the  liveliness  of  the  sea  around 
Beverley  and  Salem. 

The  population  of  Quebec  and  Montreal,  upon  a  first  inspection ? 
4 


58  SPENCER    WOOD. 

does  not  look  so  well-to-do  and  thriving  as  that  of  Boston,  and  som.e 
other  American  cities ;  this  may  be  partly  owing  to  the  prevalence 
of  Roman  Catholics  here,  just  as  one  finds  it  in  Europe.  Where 
that  persuasion  has  the  ascendency,  the  people  are  either  stationary 
or  retrograde ;  and  in  Quebec  there  are  more  churches  and  more 
beggars  than  in  any  other  place  I  have  yet  seen  on  this  side  the 
Atlantic.  Indeed,  I  never  met  a  beggar  in  Boston — not  even 
among  the  Irish ;  and  ladies  have  told  me  they  could  not  find  a 
poor  family  on  whom  to  exercise  their  benevolent  feelings.  We 
arrived  at  this  place  by  breakfast  time  :  it  has  a  thoroughly  English 
appearance,  with  a  splendid  view  of  the  St.  Lawrence  from  the 
windows. 

Lord  Elgin  tells  me  this  is  the  day  for  the  letters  to  go,  so  I  must 
conclude  hastily ;  and,  as  there  is  rain,  I  shall  probably  do  little  more 
to-day  than  stay  indoors  and  rest  myself. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  VII. 

QUEBEC. 


SPENCER  WOOD,  QUEBEC, 
Sept.  2,  1854. 


MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, 

I  suspect  that  the  end  of  the  letter  which  I  sent  off  yester 
day,  just  after  my  arrival,  was  dated  the  3rd  instead  of  the  1st:  my 
notions  about  days  and  dates  are  rather  confused,  from  having  been 
very  little  in  bed  since  Wednesday  night.  I  find  now  that  my  letter 
written  a  week  ago  from  Wells  River,  to  fix  the  day  of  my  coming 
here,  never  reached  Lord  Elgin  :  the  American  post-office  does  not 
appear  to  be  as  exact  or  as  well-regulated  as  ours.  I  hope  you  re 
ceive  all  my  packets  ?  I  think  this  will  be  the  fifth  or  sixth  letter  I 
have  sent  off.  I  generally  write  about  one  a  fortnight — but  not  a 
line  from  you  yet,  or  from  any  one  in  England,  excepting  a  letter  I 

have  got  from  Mr.  S ,  dated  August  2nd ;  but  despatches  from 

home  are  expected  to-day,  and  I  hope  to  get  something.  This 
morning,  at  seven  o'clock,  it  is  still  thick  and  rainy — I  cannot  even 
see  the  St.  Lawrence  from  my  window ;  and  all  day  yesterday  we 
had  a  large  coal  fire.  September  is  considered  the  last  of  the  sum 
mer  months  in  Canada  ;  and  with  the  leaves  still  green,  the 
weather  looks  and  feels,  at  present,  very  like  a  mild  November  in 
England. 

This  is  a  large  house,  with  a  good  conservatory,  and  handsome 


60  A    COMPARISON. 

reception-rooms,  though  they  are  considered  low  for  their  size.  The 
fields  and  turf  look  as  green  as  in  England— the  first  bit  of  fresh- 
looking  grass  I  have  seen  these  three  weeks.  At  Montreal  there 
was  not  the  least  appearance  of  verdure,  and  very  few  trees,  even 
immediately  about  the  town,  though  the  villas  and  the  hills  are  well 
wooded.  I  found  that  place  prettier  than  I  expected  ;  but  it  must 
be  an  uninteresting  residence,  as  there  appears  to  be  but  one  drive 
around  the  hill  at  the  back.  A  bridge  on  the  tubular  principle, 
which  will  be  the  largest  in  the  world,  is  begun ;  it  is  to  unite  the 
town  with  the  railroad  over  the  St.  Lawrence ;  I  was  told  that  1600 
workmen  are  already  employed  in  its  construction.  It  is  the  under 
taking  of  an  English  company,  and  may  vie  with  our  Crystal  Palace 
in  the  enterprise  and  skill  it  will  call  forth. 

Lord  Elgin  is  much  occupied  just  now  by  the  opening  of  the  new 
Canadian  Parliament,  on  the  6th ;  and  of  course  the  party  spirit, 
and  agitation,  and  jealousy  which  the  reform  and  enlargement  of 
that  body  have  excited  is  unbounded.  Every  one  wants  to  do  and 
to  be  everything ;  and  though  to  an  impartial  stranger  it  is  a  diffi 
cult  matter  to  comprehend  what  these  people  would  be  at,  yet  it  is 
interesting  to  observe  the  efforts  of  a  young  nation  to  make  use  of  a 
newly-acquired  power.  •  It  resembles  the  first  attempts  of  an  infant 
to  exercise  its  legs— eager,  awkward,  and  almost  alarming,  though 
necessary  and  salutary  to  gain  habit,  future  strength,  and  experience ; 
but  as  patience  and  temper  are  required  from  a  good  nurse  when 
her  child  begins  to  walk  alone ;  so  even  the  calmness  and  placabil 
ity  of  Lord  Elgin  is  likely  to  be  severely  tried  by  his  wayward 
children  here— they  may  even  quarrel  with  their  own  bread-and- 
butter,  to  begin  with. 

Sept.  3.— Monday.— -I  had  a  day  of  repose  yesterday.  The 
gentlemen  went  off  early  to  their  official  duties,  and  I  was  very  glad 
to  rest  myself,  and  gather  up  my  thoughts  a  little.  We  dined  at 
seven,  and  I  went  early  to  bed.  This  morning  an  English  mail  ar 
rived,  and  we  got  letters.  Cholera  seems  worse  in  England  than  I 
had  any  idea  of;  that  complaint  has  abated  here.  In  the  afternoon, 
Lord  Elgin  drove  me  in  his  phaeton  to  tin  Cathedral  at  Quebec— a 


QUEBEC.  61 

large  respectable  building,  with  a  good  organ,  remarkably  well 
played,  and  the  singing  led  by  the  pleasing  voices  of  young  Quebec 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  After  church,  we  walked  on  the  platform 
overlooking  the  St.  Lawrence,  where  there  is  an  extensive  and  beau 
tiful  view.  Before  going  home  we  called  to  inquire  after  a  sick 

young  lady  at  Sir  H.  C 's,  and  saw  another  fine  view  of  Quebec, 

with  its  mountains  and  river;  we  walked  back  from  thence  two 
miles  to  Spencer  Wood.  The  Sunday  amusement  of  young  men 
here  seems  to  be  driving  about  little  gigs,  or  wagons  as  they  are 
called,  in  the  most  reckless  and  furious  way  possible :  it  seemed  to 
me  as  if  they  would  knock  down  even  their  Governor-General  with 
out  the  least  compunction,  if  he  happened  to  be  in  their  way  ! 

September  5. — I  did  not  write  yesterday.  In  the  morning  I  was 
absorbed  by  a  file  of  English  newspapers  down  to  the  eighteenth  of  last 
month.  Alas !  social  questions  seem  to  be  still  made  of  secondary  im 
portance  by  the  war.  Not  a  wovd  about  the  erring  children,  so  I  conclude 
nothing  has  been  done  to  save  them  from  deeper  crime.  A  young  man 
of  twenty,  at  Dartmoor,  has  made  a  most  furious  and  savage  attempt 
on  the  lifs  of  one  of  the  keepers.  Ten  years  ago  that  man  was  a  child — 
who  but  the  Parent  State  is  to  blame  that  he  is  now  a  murderer  ? 

September  6. — In  the  afternoon  of  yesterday,  I  spent  three  hours 
botanizing.  There  are  some  interesting  plants  in  a  wood  not  far 
distant,  particularly  some  ferns,  worth  transplanting  into  our  English 
gardens.  The  Governor-General  opened  the  Parliament  to-day ; 
but  as  he  leaves  them  to  choose  their  Speaker,  preparatory  to  his 
speech  being  delivered  to-morrow,  I  put  off  going  till  then.  I  went 
to  call  upon  a  lady  to  whom  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction :  she 
lives  for  the  present  (while  out  of  town)  at  a  cottage  within  a  walk 
of  this  place,  where  I  found  a  garden  with  some  interesting  plants 
of  this  country,  and  one  of  the  most  venerable-looking  paper  birch, 
trees  I  have  yet  seen,  for  they  have  generally  been  straight  and  of 
no  great  size ;  this  has  many  arms  branching  to  the  ground.  Mrs. 
M —  —  told  me  that  only  yesterday  a  humming-bird  came  to  the 
creeper  near  her  window.  I  did  not  know  they  were  found  so  far 
north ;  and  I  have  not  yet  been  so  fortunate  as  to  see  one. 

A  Mr.  Sicotte  has  been  elected  Speaker,  upon  the  principle  (as 


62  A    PARADOX. 

far  as  I  can  understand  it)  by  which  the  Americans  most  usually 
elect  their  Presidents.  Neither  party  being  able  to  secure  the  elec 
tion  of  their  own  man,  they  unite  in  voting  for  an  individual  not 
popular  with  either ;  so  that  in  practice  a  popular  election  makes  an 
unpopular  choice — what  a  paradox  !  Each  individual  voter  saying 
to  himself,  *  If  I  am  not  to  have  my  own  man,  no  one  else  shall  have 
his  man  ;'  and  so  nobody's  man  is  the  man  chosen — is  not  this  an 
odd  practice  ?  A  very  stormy  night — thunder  and  lightning,  and 
rain — very  cold,  too.  How  lucky  we  have  been  that  the  bad  wea 
ther  has  kept  off  till  now,  when,  in  a  comfortable  house  with  a  bright 
fire,  we  can  rest;  and,  enjoying  the  retrospect  of  past  sunshine,  look 
forward  to  an  Indian  summer  for  Niagara, 

September  7. — Another  cold  and  gloomy-looking  morning,  so  I 
wrote  letters,  hoping  for  sunshine  by  three  o'clock,  when  we  were  to 
go  to  Quebec  to  hear  the  Governor-General  make  his  speech  to  the 
Canadian  Parliament.  The  weather  cleared  up  in  the  middle  of  the 

day ;  Captain  H •  drove  me  into  the  town,  and  Colonel  I 

placed  me  with  Mrs.  and  Miss  I in  the  gallery  of  the  concert- 
room,  where  the  Canadian  Parliament  has  assembled  since  their  own 
houses  were  burned.  The  whole  place  was  crammed,  and  in  the 
gallery  were  nearly  as  many  ladies  as  gentlemen ;  the  assembly 
showino-  the  most  breathless  interest.  Behind  the  throne  there  is  a 

C5 

reporters'  gallery ;  before  it  a  table  and  chairs  for  judges,  of  whom 
Mr.  Bowen  is  the  oldest  in  the  Queen's  dominions.  On  each  side 
were  rows  of  double  desks,  covered  with  crimson,  two  members  sit 
ting  at  each  ;  and  as  they  choose  their  own  seats,  and  retain  them, 
a  man  can  have  his  particular  friend  by  him  during  the  session — an 
advantage,  particularly  in  this  country.  The  ceremony  is  much  like 
that  in  England.  Guns  are  fired  when  the  Governor  arrives.  He 

O 

read  the  speech  well  and  most  distinctly,  first  in  English,  and  then 
in  French,  the  House  of  Deputies  standing  at  the  Bar.  I  thought 
Lord  Elgin  was  well  received,  an  air  of  great  respect  pervading,  and 
I  heard  applause  as  he  went  out.  His  great  ability,  united  as  it  is 
with  firmness,  and  the  most  straightforward  character  possible,  has 
been  of  infinite  value  to  this  rising  country ;  although  party  feeling 


QUEBEC. 


63 


and  the  tempers  of  a  few  disappointed  spirits,  aided  by  an  ill-written 
and  abusive  Press,  in  some  measure  dim  the  brilliancy  of  his  career ; 
or  rather  misrepresent  it  at  this  moment. 

September  8. — At  twelve  o'clock  last  night,  I  returned  from 
Quebec,  after  sitting  almost  nine  hours,  watching  the  proceedings  of 
the  House  of  Deputies  with  so  much  interest  that,  for  the  time,  I 
was  neither  hungry  nor  tired.  The  order  of  the  day — an  Address 
upon  the  Governor-General's  speech ;  but  this  was  not  brought  for 
ward  at  all  during  my  stay,  so  what  happened  after  twelve  o'clock 
remains  to  be  seen ;  but  it  appeared  to  me  the  business  they  had  in 
hand  was  enough  to  occupy  them  during  the  whole  of  their  first  sit 
ting.  A  Rouge  member  took  precedence,  by  a  motion  to  the  effect 
that  a  certain  Timothy  Brodeur,  a  unanimously  returned  member 
for  the  district  of  Bagot,  having  illegally  acted  as  returning  officer 
after  his  election,  and  thus  returned  himself — the  said  Timothy 
Brodeur  was  illegally  seated ;  and  the  motion  therefore  went  on  to 
summon  Timothy  the  returning  officer  to  the  Bar  of  the  House,  to 
be  questioned  as  to  whether  he  was  Timothy  Brodeur,  Esq.,  who  was 
elected  member  for  Bagot,  or  not.  This  motion  was  opposed  by  the 
lawyers  attached  to  the  Government ;  first,  because  they  knew  nothing 
about  the  case  ;  secondly,  because  they  affirmed  it  was  an  act  of  tyr 
anny  to  oblige  the  said  Timothy  to  give  evidence  against  himself, 
without  any  previous  notice ;  and,  thirdly,  because  Timothy  Brodeur 
the  member  not  being  proved  legally  to  be  Timothy  the  returning 
officer,  it  would  be  a  breach  of  Parliamentary  privilege  to  order  a 
member  to  the  Bar  without  first  proving  him  to  be  the  person  required. 
Both  sides  of  the  House,  however,  admitted  there  was  but  one  Timothy ; 
and  it  seemed  to  me,  upon  a  simple,  unlearned  view  of  the  case,  that 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  quibbling  and  special  pleading ;  so  that  I, 
as  an  unprejudiced  observer,  should  have  voted  with  the  Opposition 
against  the  Ministry;  and  I  imagine  Mr.  Hincks,  the  prime  minister, 
was  not  very  well  satisfied  with  the  grounds  upon  which  his  col 
leagues  were  battling,  for  he  kept  out  of  the  way  as  much  as  possible, 
and  took  no  part  in  the  long  debate  which  followed.  There  were 
several  divisions,  in  all  of  which  the  Ministry  were  beat  by  a  major- 


64  THE    HOUSE    OF   DEPUTIES. 

ity  of  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  ;  apparently,  the  question  was  not 
if  Timothy  should  be  questioned  at  all,  but  whether  he  should  have 
time  to  answer  whether  he  was  the  real  Simon  Pure,  or  not  ?  And 
the  fight  seemed  to  be  about  the  words  'immediately,'  or  'to-morrow/ 
or  *  next  day.'  I  imagine  that  in  England  the  whole  affair  would 
have  been  referred  to  a  Committee  of  Privileges,  and  not  have  been 
allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  Address  upon  the  Queen's  Speech ; 
but  there  appears  such  a  determination  in  the  majority  to  turn  out 
the  present  Ministry,  that  perhaps  it  prefers  to  show  its  strength 
upon  this  question  (which  does  not  touch  upon  the  Governor- 
General's  speech  at  all,  and  who  does  not  even  know  the  circum 
stances  which  gave  rise  to  it),  than  upon  the  Address  itself.  But  of 
course  this  is  only  my  conjecture,  founded  on  the  difficulty,  that  any 
truly  patriotic  Canadian  could  grumble  at  the  speech  delivered  from 
the  Throne  on  Wednesday  last.  It  was  more  than  half-past  ten 
o'clock  before  Timothy  was  fairly  brought  to  the  Bar  of  the  House. 
First  the  Serjeant-at-Arms  was  sent  to  summon  him ;  but  Timothy 
only  shook  his  head  and  remained  unmoved,  (having  the  whole 
evening  heard  the  complaints  and  borne  the  attacks  against  himself 
in  the  most  silent  and  imperturbable  manner.)  Then  the  House 
felt  its  dignity  insulted,  and  another  motion  was  carried,  to  the  effect 
that  the  Speaker  should  make  out  his  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  the 
contumacious  Timothy ;  and  lastly,  the  Serjeant-at-Arms,  removing 
the  mace  from  the  table,  walked  up  with  it  to  the  contumacious 
member,  who  then  followed  quietly  to  the  Bar,  and  stood  there 
looking  simple  and  innocent  as  a  lamb — a  gentle-looking  old  man, 
unable,  I  suspect,  to  speak  English ;  perhaps  he  only  half  understood 
the  business,  after  all.  He  admitted  that  he  was  Timothy  Brodeur, 
Esq.,  the  member,  and  also  Timothy  Brodeur,  the  returning  officer ; 
and  that  he  was  to  be  paid  twenty  pounds  for  executing  the  latter 
office  in  his  own  favor ;  but  he  said  the  money  had  never  been  paid 
to  him.  After  this  I  came  away,  leaving  Mr.  Brodeur  in  the  midst 
of  his  questioning ;  and  as  the  Opposition  hinted  at  two  other  cases 
of  the  same  kind  they  meant  to  bring  forward,  it  was  hardly  possible 
the  Answer  to  the  address  could  be  debated  this  morning,  so  I  hope 
to  hear  it  still. 


THE  PREMIER'S  SPEECH.  65 

The  use  of  the  two  languages,  at  the  pleasure  of  the  different 
members  alternately  and  indifferently,  had  a  curious  effect  to  me. 
Sometimes  a  member,  after  speaking  in  French,  was  asked  to  repeat 
in  English  what  he  had  said  in  French,  and  vice  versa.  It  seems 
that  many  of  the  new  members  understand  only  one  language,  and 
this  must  complicate  affairs  considerably.  The  manner  in  which 
divisions  are  taken  is  good  in  a  small  assembly,  but  it  would  occupy 
too  much  time  in  our  House  of  Commons.  The  Noes  stand  up,  and 
a  clerk  calls  over  their  names  to  be  written  down  at  the  table,  and 
then  the  same  process  is  gone  through  with  the  Ayes.  This  is  ad 
vantageous  for  a  stranger,  as  it  identifies  each  member. 

September  9. — Another  cold  showery  day,  and  I  preferred  walk 
ing  into  Quebec  to  going  in  a  carriage,  having  had  no  exercise 
yesterday.  I  called  on  Mrs.  Mountain,  the  wife  of  the  Bishop  of 
Quebec,  who  sat  by  me  at  dinner  here  on  Wednesday ;  and  then 

Captain  H took  me  from  Judge  Bowen's  into  the  House  of 

Deputies.     There  was  great  excitement,  for  the  news  had  become 
generally  spread  that  the  Ministers  had  resigned,  and  that  Sir  Allen 
M'Nab  was  forming  a  new  Government.     This  was  confirmed,  im 
mediately  after  the  House  met,  by  Mr.  Hincks  himself,  who  moved 
that  the  orders  of  the  day  should  be  postponed  till  Monday,  in  con 
sequence  of  the  resignation  of  the  Ministers ;   and  then  spoke  for 
some  time.     He  gave  a  sketch  of  all  that  had  occurred  during  his 
tenure  of  office  which  bore  upon  the  state  of  parties  ;  alluded  slightly 
to  the  numerous  measures  for  the  improvement  of  the  people  and  the 
prosperity  of  Canada  which  had  been  originated  and  carried  out 
during  the  six  years  he  had  administered  public  affairs ;  spoke  feel 
ingly  of  the  base  attacks  which  had  been  levelled  at  his  character ; 
and  of  the  desertion  of  some  former  adherents  who  had  played  a 
base  and  double-dealing  game,  differing  from  the  open  and  honest 
opposition  which  had  characterized  the  conduct  of  other  men  whose 
motives  he  respected.     Mackenzie,  that  little  Celtic-looking  deputy 
who  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion,  had  removed  from  his 
own  seat,  and  placed  himself  in  an  arm-chair  so  as  to  be  nearly  op 
posite  to  Mr.  Hincks :  he  took  the  opportunity  of  uttering  a  loud 
4* 


DEEDS,    NOT    WORDS. 


'  Hear,  hear,'  upon  some  observation,  when  the  speaker,  immediately 
looking  him  full  in  the  face,  broke  forth  into  a  very  powerful,  ani 
mated,  and  sarcastic  exposure  of  the  bitter  animosity  with  which 
Mackenzie  had  pursued  him,  showing  that  he  (Mackenzie)  uttered 
by  various  means,  and  through  numerous  channels,  the  most  false 
and  libeltous  accusations,  and  then  had  ended  by  becoming  his  op 
ponent  at  the  election;  'but,'  continued  Mr.  Hi  neks,  'if  I  have  had 
personal  enemies,  they  have  been  more  than  counterbalanced  bv 
devoted  friends.     I  had  the  satisfaction  of  polling  more  than  three 
hundred  votes  when  my  adversary  could  only  muster  twenty-three ; 
and  also  of  being  returned  for  another  place,  without  having  asked 
for  one  suffrage  from  the  electors.'     It  was  generally  thought  that 
the  retiring  minister  erred  only  in  a  too  modest  appreciation  of  the 
services  of  his  administration.    He  merely  said  that  the  statute-book 
would  show  what  had  been  effected  during  the  time  he  had  been 
employed  in  the  service  of  his  country,  without  even  pointing  out 
that  he  received  his  office  when  the  people  were  discontented"  and 
adverse  to  the  rule  of  England;    and  that  he  gives  it  up,  leavino- 
them  rapidly  progressing,  happy  and  loyal,  with  railroads  opening 
and  opened  in  all  directions ;   the  most  magnificent  bridge  in  the 
world  in  progress,  to  connect  the  opposite  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence  • 
matters  which  have  long  been  the  cause  of  disunion  and  irritation 
permanently  and  irrevocably  put  to  rest;  and  the  revenues  of  the 
two  divisions  of  Canada  trebled  in  amount.    Deeds,  not  words.    Mr 
Hincks  may  not  have  said  all  he  might  have  said  for  his  own  glori 
fication,  or  even  for  the  reputation  of  the  Governor-General ;  but  he 
has  left  his  office,  having  completed   and  carried  out  measures  for 
which  the  Canadians  will  have  reason  to  bless  the  rule  of  Lord 
Jilgin  as  long  as  their  country  has  a  name;  and,  before  one  winter 
has  passed  over  it,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  they  will  be  sensible  of 
the  benefits  which  their  late  minister  has  been  instrumental  in  secur 
ing  to  them,  and  who,  upon  looking  round  their  House  of  Assembly 
stands  almost  as  superior  to  his  detractors  as  Sir  E.  Peel  once  rose 
above  those  who  believed  themselves  equal  to  attacking  him.     The 
House  adjourned  till  Monday,  immediately  Mr.  Hincks  resumed  his 


MONSIEUR    BRODEUK,  67 

seat;  and  then  numerous  members — even  Cochon  and  others  who 
had  been  in  Opposition — rushed  forward  to  offer  their  hands :  it  was 
quite  an  interesting  scene,  and  I  observed  tears  on  the  cheeks  of 
many. 

I  walked  back  to  Spencer  Wood  over  the  Plains  of  Abraham, 
passing  Wolfe's  Hotel,  and  other  memorials  of  by-gone  events.  The 
weather  was  cold  and  threatening ;  we  want  sunshine  much  ;  but  I 
reached  home  without  rain  enough  to  annoy  me.  Part  of  the  way 
I  walked  over  boarded  paths,  which  are  very  common  about  the 
towns  instead  of  flagstone  pavement.  They  are  much  less  fatiguing, 
but  more  expensive  than  pavement,  as  frequent  renewal  is  necessary. 
I  have  not  yet  attempted  any  sketches  here.  In  the  first  place,  the 
air  has  been  cold,  and  the  distances  too  hazy ;  and  then  I  have  also 
been  occupied  by  the  interest  of  the  present  state  of  affairs.  I  have 
been  very  fortunate  in  arriving  just  at  a  crisis  which  is  quite  exciting, 
and  of  course  these  circumstances  enable  me  to  study  and  to  under 
stand  the  state  of  parties  and  the  feelings  of  the  people  here,  better 

than  I  could  do  under  the  usual  routine.     Colonel  G — ,  who  was 

a  former  Secretary  to  the  Governor,  is  here.  He  married  a  Canadian 
lady,  and  lives  wholly  among  the  French  Canadians.  He  tells  me 
they  are  a  most  amiable  people,  quite  free  from  bigotry  of  a  proselyt 
ing  kind ;  that  priests  constantly  visit  at  his  house,  but  there  never 
has  been  the  least  attempt  to  disturb  his  Protestant  convictions,  or 
to  evince  any  irritation  upon  the  subject.  He  has  kindly  invited 
me  to  visit  his  place  of  residence,  near  Montreal,  when  I  leave  this: 
and  I  shall  like  much  to  profit  by  what  may  be  my  only  opportunity 
of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  manners  and  habits  of  Lower 
Canada,  which  I  believe  are  in  many  respects  very  different  from 
those  of  the  Upper  Province. 

It  seems  that  poor  Monsieur  Timothy  Brodeur,  the  cause  of  all 
the  disputes  and  excitement  in  the  Parliament  the  day  before  yester 
day,  is  a  deputy  from  Mr.  C 's  neighbourhood ;  that  his  error  has 

been  wholly  owing  to  want  of  knowledge.  He  was  made  to  come 
forward  rather  against  his  own  inclination,  and  has  sacrificed  his  tastes 
and  his  domestic  enjoyments  to  get  into  this  hot  water — poor  man ! 


68  INCONSISTENCIES. 

Of  course  he  is  very  much  annoyed.  It  seems  that  most  of  the  busi 
ness  of  his  return  was  conducted  by  another  officer,  but  he  unwit 
tingly  signed  the  paper  himself,  not  being  aware  of  the  consequence, 
and  the  matter  was  taken  up  by  another  French  Canadian,  who, 
being  a  Rouge,  wished,  I  suppose,  to  spite  his  quieter  countryman ; 
but  one  thing  is  certain,  that  Timothy  Brodeur  is  not  likely  to  attach 
himself  to  the  Rouges  after  this  business.  He  is  an  acquaintance  of 
the  new  Speaker,  Monsieur  Sicotte,  who  was  proposed  by  the  Eouge 
party.  By  the  by,  he  seems  a  gentlemanly,  quiet  man,  who  con 
ducts  the  business  pleasantly,  and  who,  I  should  imagine,  will  be  very 
generally  liked  by  the  members,  though  he  seems  to  have  been  a  man 
little  known  till  he  happened  to  be  brought  forward  on  this  occasion. 

If  this  day  is  fine,  I  shall  make  interest  with  the  gardener,  and 
get  him  to  accompany  me  with  his  spade  to  a  wood  near,  to  dig  up 
some  ferns,  and  then  I  will  pack  up  the  roots  and  send  them  straight 
to  England  from  hence,  which  I  think  may  give  them  a  better  chance 
of  existence  than  going  all  round  by  Boston. 

Lord  Elgin  is  going  to  have  a  dinner-party  this  evening, 
when  the  twelve  retiring  ministers  will  be  present.  I  shall 
have  the  luck  of  seeing  the  two  Cabinets  all  together  upon  two 
different  days  —  the  Outs  and  the  Ins.  This  will  be  a  fine 
opportunity  for  speculation.  No  one  yet  knows  the  names  of 
the  men  likely  to  be  put  together  by  Sir  Allen  M'Nab,  who  may  be 
considered  the  Lord  Derby  of  Canada ;  and  he  will  have  a  similar 
difficulty  as  the  one  which  beset  the  English  Conservatives — for  no 
minister  can  stand  here  who  attempts  to  preserve  the  Clergy 
Reserves :  whether  right  or  wrong,  the  people  are  almost  unanimous 
in  condemning  them.  So,  as  Lord  Derby  was  obliged  to  confirm 
free-trade  in  opposition  to  the  principles  of  his  life,  so  Sir  Alien 
M'Nab  must  sacrifice  the  Clergy  Reserves  in  opposition  to  his.  He 
must  select  a  mixed  Cabinet,  as  his  own  party  is  otherwise  too  weak 
to  stand,  and  nobody  seems  to  know  whether  he  will  seek  for  assist 
ance  from  the  Rouges  or  the  Whigs ;  but,  as  extremes  generally 
meet,  perhaps  he  will  prefer  the  ultra  Radicals,  with  whom  he  has 
voted  to  turn  out  the  last  Government,  rather  than  ally  himself  with 


QUEBEC.  (>9 

those  who  have  been  more  provoking,  because  their  opinions  were 
not  so  antagonistic  to  his  own  as  those  of  the  Rouges.  So  it  is  in 
politics  as  well  as  in  religion.  I  observe  some  people  are  more  toler 
ant  of  Jews  and  Mahometans,  than  they  are  of  Christians  who  may 
differ  only  a  shade  from,  themselves — just  as  family  quarrels  are 
the  most  bitter  quarrels  of  all.  One  comfort  is,  the  people  here  have 
not  any  ground  left  now  upon  which  they  can  fight  to  any  very 
mischievous  degree ;  and  this  happy  agreement  they  certainly  owe, 
in  a  great  measure,  to  Lord  Elgin.  As  well  as  I  can  guess,  the 
present  change  may  be  attributed  to  a  longing  for  office  in  some 
individuals,  and  a  craving  for  variety  in  others.  People  get  tired  of 
the  best  thing  if  they  have  it  always,  provided  there  is  any  possibil 
ity  of  getting  something  else  instead;  and  this  is  one  of  the  many 
advantages  of  our  hereditary  monarchy — the  complete  prevention 
of  change  for  the  sake  of  change.  As  to  purity  of  election  and 
national  choice,  I  have  already  discovered  that  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other  is  attained  by  American  institutions,  although  as  a  whole, 
for  a  new  country,  they  work  very  well ;  and  I  should  not  imagine 
that  the  United  States  would  be  more  prosperous  under  any  other  form, 
of  government  than  the  one  they  possess ;  still,  many  people  assert 
there  is  now  more  positive  individual  liberty  in  Canada  than  among 
the  Americans.  Of  this  I  have,  as  yet,  had  no  fair  means  of  judging. 
As  the  post  for  England  goes  to-day,  I  must  leave  the  solution  of 
the  ministerial  crisis  here  for  the  next  mail,  and  let  this  go  as  it  is. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 

The  English  mail  has  just  arrived,  and  not  one  letter  for  me ! 
I  shall  probably  stay  here  ten  days  longer,  and  it  is  best  that  every 
thing  should  be  directed  the  same  until  after  the  1st  of  October, 
when  my  friends  must  address  to  New  York  ;  till  then,  Lord  Elgin 
will  know  best  where  my  letters  can  be  sent.  The  sun  has  at  last 
appeared,  and  I  am  going  this  afternoon  to  see  the  Falls  of  Mont- 
morenci.  I  can  leave  this  packet  at  the  office  at  Quebec  in  my  way. 
I  will  number  my  letters  from  this  time,  which  will  enable  you  to 
tell  whether  they  reach  England  as  regularly  as  I  send  them.. 


LETTER  VIII. 

QUEBEC. 

SPENCER  WOOD,  QUEBEC,  ) 
.  September,  11, 1854.       f 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

After  sending  off  my  last  letter  on  Saturday,  Lord  Elgin's 

carriage  took  me  into  Quebec ;  and  from  thence  Capt.  H drove 

me  to  see  the  Falls  of  Montmorenci.  I  once  heard  a  waterfall  in  the 
Isle  of  Man  compared  to  Montmorenci ;  but  if  there  is  any  likeness,  it 
is  only  that  of  a  dwarf  to  a  giant.  The  river  Montmorenci  pours 
down,  almost  suddenly,  more  than  two  hundred  feet — a  height  oreat- 
er  than  Niagara.  It  is  received  by  the  magnificent  St.  Lawrence, 
and  the  views  ten  miles  up  it,  to  Quebec,  and  almost  as  far  down,  to 
Cape  Tourmente,  are  very  fine.  The  drive  home  was  beautiful.  Ow 
ing  to  a  custom  here  of  roofing  churches  and  houses  with  tin  plates, 
the  city  of  Quebec  looked,  in  the  sunset,  as  if  gemmed  with  diamonds. 
We  had  a  bright,  frosty-looking  sun,  with  the  air  as  cold  as  in  No 
vember,  in  England.  All  the  ex-ministers  dined  here  to-day.  During 
the  evening  I  was  told  of  another  place,  called  Three  Rivers,  between 
this  and  Montreal,  where  some  beautiful  scenery  is  accessible.  By 
stopping  there  one  day  in  my  way  back,  I  should  break  the  fatiguing 
monotony  of  another  night  voyage. 

Sunday,  Sept.  10. — We  went  to  morning  service  at  Quebec; 
very  cold  drive  ;  a  sharp  north-easterly  wind.  In  the  afternoon  we 
walked  to  the  Protestant  Cemetery  upon  the  next  point  above  this 


THE    CLERGY    RESERVES.  71 

p]ace — a  beautiful  situation.  We  passed  two  handsome  new  churches, 
almost  finished,  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  each  other ;  one  Ro 
man  Catholic,  the  other  Protestant.  They  were  Gothic,  built  of  the 
pleasing  coloured  grey  stone  of  the  country.  Though  the  great  mass 
of  the  population  around  and  in  Quebec  are  Roman  Catholics,  one 
does  not  hear  of  religious  disputes ;  since  Gavazzi  excited  an  uproar 
at  Montreal,  I  believe  nothing  of  that  kind  has  occurred. 

I  went  to  call  upon  a  Canadian  lady,  near  eighty  years  of  age, 
who  understands  the  botany  of  this  country  better  than  any  one  I 
have  met  with.  In  earlier  years,  during  the  time  of  a  former  Lady 

Dalhousie,  Mrs.  M acquired  this  taste  from  her,  and  she  is  quite 

pleased  to  have  it  revived.  She  took  me  to  Quebec,  and  at  three 
o'clock,  I  went  to  see  the  Canadian  Parliament  assemble.  Sir  Allan 
M'Nab  was  announced  as  the  new  minister  ;  having  formed  his  Gov 
ernment  upon  coalition  principles,  he  has  taken  in  all  the  old  minis 
ters  but  three;  changing  his  policy  upon" the  Clergy  Reserves,  &c., 
&c.,  from  deference  to  the  general  voice  of  this  country.  Sir  Allan 
is  perfectly  aware  that  no  Government  can  stand  which  refuses  to 
adjust  the  Clergy  Reserves.  It  is  supposed  that  there  are  not  now 
ten  votes  in  the  House  willing  to  support  them.  So  it  seems  the 
new  Government  comes  in,  only  to  carry  out  the  views  of  their  pre 
decessors  ;  a  strong  proof  that  this  change  is  only  made  for  the  sake 
of  something  fresh.  Of  course  the  new  ministers  could  not  take  part 
in  the  debates,  as  they  must  be  re-elected.  Mr.  Hincks  made  a  frank 
and  clear  statement,  in  refutation  of  accusations  which  have  been 
freely  circulated  during  the  last  few  days  to  the  effect  that  he  had 
recommended  his  successor,  and  sold  his  party  to  him.  At  the  same 
time  he  expressed  his  intention  of  supporting  the  new  administration, 
as  long  as  they  were  willing  to  carry  out  good  measures.  I  remained 
in  the  House  till  it  was  time  to  return  to  dinner  at  Spencer  Wood  ; 
the  speeches  were  generally  dull,  excepting  those  of  a  few,  whose 
disappointment  and  anger,  at  the  result  of  the  changes,  created  some 
excitement.  One  speaker  actually  maintained  that  any  attack  out 
of  doors  upon  the  character  of  a  prime  minister,  was  sufficient  to 
render  him  unfit  to  continue  in  office,  because  such  attacks  weakened 


72  THE    INDUSTRIAL    EXHIBITION. 

the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  agitated  the  country  ; — so,  accord 
ing  to  this  doctrine,  a  leader  is  to  be  always  at  the  mercy  of  the 
mendacious  scandal-mongers  of  a  community  ! — a  most  extraordi 
nary  political  axiom.  Capt.  H drove  me  and  Mr.  C home ; 

it  was  a  cold,  frosty  night,  but  not  quite  so  sharp  as  yesterday,  when 
Dahlias  and  potatoes  were  cut  down  ;  but  I  console  myself  by  ho 
ping  this  may  be  all  the  winter  I  shall  get,  if  I  proceed  toward  the  South 
in  December.  It  strikes  me  as  singular  that  the  weather  should  be 
so  cold,  while  the  leaves  are  still  upon  the  trees,  for  I  see  none  fallen, 
and  only  here  and  there  a  branch  of  foliage  turning  red  and  yellow. 

September  12. — Yesterday,  a  lady  took  me  to  visit  at  a  very 
pretty  place  called  here  Carouge,  a  corruption  of  Cap-rouge,  on  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  where  the  river  Carouge  fells  into  it.  The 
view  from  the  windows  reminded  of  Colonel  Harcourt's,  near  Ryde.  I 
gathered  acorns  oft'  two  or  three  oaks  there,  differing  from  ours ;  one 
with  the  mid-rib  of  the  leaf  red ;  and,  ultimately,  I  hope  to  collect 
all  the  American  species.  In  a  wood  near  the  house,  some  Indians 
had  erected  a  wigwam,  oblong  in  form,  and  not  very  picturesque ; 
it  was  lined  throughout  with  birch  bark.  .The  drive  from  Spencer 
Wood  to  Cap-rouge  along  the  banks  of  the  river  is  very  beautiful ; 
the  villas  between  the  road  and  the  banks  belong  principally  to  mer 
chants  engaged  in  the  lumber  trade,  for  the  edge  of  the  river  all  the 
way  to  Quebec  is  covered  by  rafts  of  timber,  and  numerous  vessels 
are  ready  to  convey  it  to  England. 

September  13. — I  spent  the  morning  with  my  old  friend  at  Ash 
Cottage.  She  gave  me  many  specimens  of  the  early-blowing  flowers,  of 
which  I  can  now  only  find  the  leaves,  among  them  the  Mocassin.  We 
afterward  drove  along  a  beautiful  river-coast  road,  and  went  through 
St.  Foy.  In  the  evening  there  was  a  ball  here,  attended  by  many 
pretty  young  Canadian  ladies,  who  were  dressed  in  good  taste,  and 
danced  well ;  their  general  appearance  and  manners  were  beyond 
what  is  to  be  commonly  met  with  at  country  town  balls  in  England. 
I  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  Mr.  Cameron,  who  lives  near  Lake 
Huron,  and  who  promises  that  his  daughter  shall  introduce  me  to 
the  plants  of  that  vicinity. 


A    MALCONTENT.  73 

September  14. — Lord  Elgin  took  me  to  the  great  Agricultural 
and  Industrial  Exhibition  of  Quebec,  held  in  a  fine  situation  over 
looking  the  river.  I  saw  some  interesting  things ;  one  useful  little 
instrument,  not  much  larger  than  a  hoe,  a  kind  of  earth-boring 
screw,  with  which  you  can  dig  to  the  depth  of  two  or  three  feet  in 
as  many  minutes.  There  were  a  few  minerals,  and  some  very  pure- 
looking  gold,  found  about  sixty  miles  from  hence ;  but  unfortunately 
these  things  were  placed  so  much  in  the  dark,  that  it  was  difficult 
to  see  them.  An  address  was  presented  to  the  Governor-General, 
which,  though  unexpected  on-  his  part,  he  replied  to,  in  a  speech 
made  with  great  promptness  and  facility.  An  early  dinner,  with  cham- 
paigne,  was  prepared  by  the  committee  for  him  and  the  gentlemen 
assembled.  A  farmer  from  London,  Upper  Canada,  made  a  very 
purpose-like  and  fluent  speech,  and  gave  a  general  invitation  to  an 
agricultural  show  which  is  to  take  place  in  his  town  on  the  26th  in 
stant.  The  sheep  were  scanty  and  poor  at  this  exhibition.  I  did 
not  much  admire  the  pigs,  though  some  were  thought  good  ;  but 
there  was  a  fine  show  of  Ayrshire  cattle,  and  very  good  cart-horses  ; 
no  Durham  cattle,  which  are  not  thought  to  suit  this  country  ;  but 
the  London  gentleman  said  they  were  popular  in  his  part  of  the 
world.  I  was  disappointed  in  the  flower-tent;  what  they  had  of 
flowers  and  fruits  having  been  almost  destroyed  the  night  before  last, 
when  a  storm  of  wind  blew  down  the  tent  upon  them.  Rain  kept 
off  during  the  show,  but  a  wet  evening  followed.  One  amusing  part 
of  the  scene  was  the  different  fire-brigades  with  their  engines,  com 
peting  for  prizes,  given  according  to  the  height  to  which  they  could 
eject  the  water.  This  part  of  the  affair  was  very  entertaining  to 
a  large  majority  of  the  crowd.  A  great  number  of  people  from 
various  districts  were  present. 

I  spent  the  afternoon  at  the  house  of  a  very  pleasant  kind  family, 
and  went  to  the  House  of  Deputies  before  eight  o'clock,  hoping  to 
hear  the  conclusion  of  an  adjourned  debate  upon  the  Address.  I 
found  the  members  engaged  in  conversation  upon  the  motion  of 
Mackenzie,  the  former  rebel.  He  is  a  singularly  wild-looking  little 
man,  with  red  hair,  waspish  and  fractious  in  manner — one  of  that 


74  A    BOTANICAL    EXCURSION. 

kind  of  people  who  would  not  sit  down  content  under  the  govern 
ment  of  an  angel.  He  has  evidently  talent  and  energy,  but  he 
seems  intent  only  upon  picking  holes  in  other  men's  coats.  He 
spends  the  money  of  the  colonists  with  great  profusion  for  one  pur 
pose — printing  returns  from  which  he  hopes  to  cull  something  which 
may  damage  somebody.  He  moved  last  night  for  the  returns  of  all 
names  of  individual  shareholders  in  banks,  railroads,  or  companies 
of  any  description  !  Some  members  opposed  this,  as  wasteful  of  the 
public  money,  and  useless  to  the  public  business ;  only  likely  to 
minister  to  a  prying,  morbid  curiosity  about  the  affairs  of  private 
persons,  and  to  be  the  means  of  annoying  individuals  who  might 
not  like  their  investments  to  be  made  a  topic  of  gossiping  conversa 
tion.  Mr.  Mackenzie  ended  by  adjourning  his  motion.  Upon  the 
order  of  the  day  for  going  on  with  the  debate  about  the  Address, 
Dr.  Rolph  got  up  and  made  what  seemed  to  me  a  very  pompous 
and  unfounded  attack  upon  the  Governor-General  for  having,  upon 
his  own  judgment,  selected  Sir  A.  M'Nab  to  form  the  new  ministry. 
Dr.  Rolph  maintained  that  it  was  a  breach  of  the  Constitution  for 
the  Crown  to  send  for  any  man  to  organize  a  new  government  with 
out  the  advice  of  a  minister  ;  that  if  the  late  Premier  did  not  tender 
his  advice  on  this  occasion,  it  was  his  duty  to  have  done  so ;  that  if 
he  did  not  tender  his  advice,  it  was  the  constitutional  duty  of  the 
Governor- General  to  have  taken  that  of  this  person,  or  that  person 
(and  here  Dr.  Rolph  gave  the  names  of  several  gentlemen,  whom  he 
seemed  to  consider  more  fit  for  the  Premiership  than  Sir  Allan),  and 
he  ended  by  saying,  if  none  of  these  would  do,  'You,  Mr.  Speaker, 
ought  to  have  been  sent  for.'  I  thought  all  this  very  extraordinary, 
and  contrary  to  the  English  modes  of  procedure ;  and  so  it  appeared 
did  the  assembly.  I  was  surprised  to  hear  afterwards  that  Dr.  Rolph 
had  been  considered  one  of  the  most  gifted,  powerful,  and  dangerous 
of  demagogues,  till  the  Governor-General,  by  trying  him  in  office, 
showed  how  little  talent  he  really  possessed.  I  did  not  get  away 
till  nearly  midnight,  and  the  House  adjourned  directly  afterwards. 

September  15. — I  had  intended  to  have  crossed  over  to  the  op 
posite  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  see  foils  called  the  Chaudiere, 


QUEBEC.  *75 

but  the  weather  looked  gloomy  and  unfavourable,  and  having  other 
things  to  do,  I  put  off  that  expedition :  and  this  was  fortunate,  as  I 

should  have  otherwise  missed  Mr.  F ,  whose  energetic  devotion 

to  the  cause  of  the  emigrants  from  England  made  me  desirous  to 
know  him  :  he  came  out  a  steerage  passenger  in  the  Cleopatra — a 
sacrifice  of  comfort  he  has  before  made,  with  the  view  of  ascertain 
ing  practically  the  treatment  of  emigrants.  He  is  again  going  west, 
for  information  which  may  assist  the  cause  he  has  espoused ;  and  if 
I  had  not  been  so  fortunate  as  to  see  him  this  morning,  he  would 

have  left  Quebec.     I  drove  in  with  Lord  B and  Mr.  F to 

the  Government  Office,  and  introduced  the  latter  to  Mr.  0 ,  who 

gave  him  an  invitation  from  Lord  Elgin  to  dine  at  Spencer  Wood. 
The  afternoon  turned  out  very  fine,  and  I  had  a  delightful  botanical 
excursion  across  the  river  to  Point  Levi :  upon  rocks,  and  along  the 
edge  of  the  water,  I  found  one  of  the  only  two  Primulas  of  America, 
the  rare  Hedysarum  boreale,  Primula  Mistassinica,  Lobelia  Kalrnii, 
Gentiana  saponaria,  &c.,  &c.,  all  beautiful  plants  and  quite  new  to 
me.  This  locality  was  pointed  out  to  me  by  Mr.  Shepherd,  the 
enthusiastic  and  intelligent  Scotch  seedsman  of  Montreal.  Without 
a  hint  I  should  never  have  found  the  Primula,  as  it  is,  of  course,  not 
in  flower  now.  I  made  two  sketches — one  of  Quebec,  which  looks 
well  from  this  place,  and  another  of  the  Island  of  Orleans,  with  Cape 
Tourmente,  and  the  mountains  behind  the  Falls  of  Montmorenci ; 
these  can  only  be  seen  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  Point 
Levi  is  a  rambling  Canadian  village,  where  the  inhabitants  are  all 
Roman  Catholics,  and  speak  little  English.  The  place  looks  untidy 
and  backward  in  civilization.  The  contrast  is  great  between  Point 
Levi  and  hamlets  in  the  United  States :  everything  looks  new  and 
hasty  there,  but  all  is  at  the  same  time  neat,  and  significant  of  pres 
ent  and  future  prosperity.  I  found  an  odd-looking  conglomerate 
rock  along  part  of  the  road  here.  A  clumsy  dirty  little  steamer 
performs  the  part  of  ferry-boat  between  the  opposite  shores ;  it  is 
the  worst  thing  of  the  kind  I  have  seen  this  side  the  Atlantic. 

September  17. — Yesterday  an  accident  occurred,  which  might 
have  been  attended  with   more  serious  consequences :  the  horse  of 


76  CURIOUS    METEORIC    LIGHT. 

one  of  the  gentlemen  here  fell,  whilst  cantering,  and  rolled  upon 
him ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  an  injury  to  the  shoulder,  which 
obliged  him  to  go  into  barrack,  at  Quebec,  for  medical  treatment, 

no  bad  consequences  ensued.     I  drove  Mrs  M in  Lord  Elgin's 

phaeton  into  the  town.  We  found  the  wind  not  quite  so  cold.  In 
the  evening  there  was  a  very  large  dinner-party,  including  the  whole 
Legislative  Council.  A  Scotch  gentleman  from  Perth,  one  of  the 
senators,  acquainted  with  members  of  our  family  in  former  years, 
invited  me  to  visit  him  at  By  town,  on  the  Ottawa  River,  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  Montreal,  and  as  I  hear  much  of 
the  beauty  of  that  flood  of  water,  I  am  going  from  hence  on  Thurs 
day,  taking  advantage  of  the  first  day's  opening  of  the  new  railroad, 
which  will  spare  me  another  stupid  night  voyage  down  the  St.  Law 
rence.  I  shall  see  a  new  country,  too,  and  do  the  journey  to  Mon 
treal  in  a  shorter  time,  which  makes  it  worth  my  while  to  give  up 
Three  Rivers  and  the  Falls  of  the  Herwaniack,  and  also  to  leave  this 
a  day  or  two  sooner  than  I  intended,  as  the  cars  will  not  be  availa 
ble  to  the  public  in  general  till  about  a  week  later,  and  then  this 
expedition  will  be  only  for  directors,  one  of  whom  promises  to  take 
us.  By  the  bye,  there  was  a  very  curious  meteoric  light  on  Sep 
tember  13th,  the  night  of  the  ball  here,  which  attracted  the  notice 
of  all  those  who  came.  It  was,  I  suppose,  a  kind  of  Aurora  borealis, 
a  broad  path  of  shining  white  light,  extending  east  and  west  from 
each  horizon :  when  I  saw  it,  there  was  no  flickering ;  it  had  the 
appearance  of  a  beautifully  defined  straight-edged  zone,  bright  as  a 
moonlit  cloud,  and  about  as  wide  as  the  apparent  distance  between 
the  two  constellations  Lyra  and  Aquila.  It  remained  a  long  time 
visible,  considerably  more  than  an  hour ;  but  I  am  not  sure  of  its 
exact  duration.  I  never  saw  anything  like  it  before,  nor  had  any 
one  else  among  all  who  saw  it  here.  It  was  not  like  any  Aurora 
borealis  I  have  before  seen,  because  it  appeared  so  stationary,  and  its 
direction  was  not  at  all  northwards. 

September  18. — Bishop  Mountain  preached  yesterday  ;  and  after 
church  I  went  with  Lord  Elgin  to  visit  a  Canadian  lady  of  great 
age.  She  remembers  the  Duke  of  Kent  here,  and  Lord  Dorchester, 


VISIT  TO   A   SQUAW.  77 

who  was  four  times  Govern  or- Gen  era!.  She  looked  like  one  of  the 
old  Flemish  pictures,  with  her  thick  black  dress  and  simple  thick 
white  cap.  with  grey  locks  escaping  at  intervals  from  beneath  it ; 
very  lively  and  energetic,  though  unable  to  leave  her  room.  She 
was  delighted  with  the  gift  of  a  bouquet  from  the  Governor-General, 
in  honor  of  her  natal  day.'  She  spoke  entirely  in  French  ;  expressed 
the  most  lively  sentiments  of  loyalty  towards  the  Queen ;  and  looks 
to  me  as  if  she  may  live  to  number  one  hundred  years.  Her  coun 
tenance  bore  the  stamp  of  cleverness  and  of  great  originality.  Col 
onel  I took  me  to  inquire  after  Captain  H ,  who  is  going 

on  well ;  and  I  then  saw  the  fine  strong  citadel,  from  which  there 

are  splendid  views  of  Quebec  and  the  St.  Lawrence.     Colonel  S 

embarks  his  regiment  for  England  next  week,  and  is  so  obliging  as 
to  take  charge  of  a  box  of  plants  and  ferns,  which  I  hope  may  get 
there  in  life.  Some  of  them,  though  indigenous  here,  I  have  never 
seen  in  our  gardens,  and  being  hardy,  these  will  be  valuable  addi 
tions.  I  have  found  seeds  of  an  Onobrychis,  I  think,  of  which  it  is 
probable  specimens  have  not  yet  been  seen  in  England.  It  is  pretty 
enough  to  be  a  nice  addition  to  our  hardy  plants,  if  I  should  be 
successful  in  introducing  it.  To-day  we  are  going  on  an  expedition 
to  Lake  St.  Charles,  about  fifteen  miles  from  Quebec.  I  am  told  it 
is  well  worth  seeing.  We  left  Spencer  Wood  before  noon.  The 
day  turned  out  wet,  but  it  was  little  more  than  drizzling  rain  5  and 
as  there  is  a  merry  party  of  young  people,  no  weather  damps  their 
enjoyment.  I  first  saw  the  Falls  of  Lorette,  and  upon  the  rocks 
there  found  a  beautiful  and  rare  fern  (Allosorus  gracilis) :  then, 

while  the  rest  of  the  party  preceded  us,  Mr.  K was  so  obliging 

as  to  take  me  to  visit  a  hamlet  of  civilized  Indians,  one  of  the  Huron 
tribes.  We  missed  seeing  the  chief,  who  was  at  his  farm,  but  his 
squaw  received  us  in  her  neat  house,  as  comfortably  furnished  as 
any  belonging  to  our  best  farmers.  She  told  us  her  husband's 
mother  was  of  French  origin,  but  that  she  was  pure  Indian.  Her 
age  must  be  about  seventy.  She  has  decidedly  the  features  of  a 
squaw,  but  she  is  extremely  intelligent,  and  speaks  good  Canadian 
French.  This  chief  has  only  one  son,  but  that  son  has  six  children. 


78  VARIABLE    WEATHER. 

We  bought  little  boxes,  baskets,  and  pincushions,  all  made  out  of 
birch  bark  by  Mrs.  Paul  and  her  husband  ;  some  of  them  very  pret 
tily  embroidered. 

The  people  of  this  village  wear  a  kind  of  half  Indian  costume ; 
the  men,  generally,  very  bright  scarlet  caps.  They  are  Roman 
Catholics  ;  and  a  woman  showed  us  their  little  chapel,  which  pos 
sesses  a  miraculous  wooden  Virgin,  which  was  supposed  to  have 
escaped  burning,  when  everything  round  it,  in  a  former  locality,  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  This  place,  better  built,  and  more  clean  and 
orderly,  than  most  European  villages,  at  once  sets  at  rest  the  ques 
tion,  whether  Indians  can  be  induced  to  give  up  a  nomadic  life. 
From  Lorette  to  Lake  St.  Charles,  the  road  was  but  indifferent.  At 
the  house  of  a  habitant  farmer  we  found  our  pic-nic  party  assembled. 
There  was  an  attempt  to  embark  in  canoes  upon  the  lake,  which 
was  abandoned  because  it  rained  too  heavily.  The  rest  of  the  party 
returned  for  shelter,  but  I  made  a  sketch  from  under  an  umbrella, 
and  discovered  two  or  three  more  plants — another  pretty  fern,  at 
present  quite  unknown  to  me.  Upon  reaching  the  house,  I  found  a 
merry  round  game  going  on.  We  then  had  an  excellent  dinner ; 
and  afterwards,  to  avoid  a  bad  road  in  the  dark,  we  all  got  into  the 
carriages,  and  returned  as  far  as  Lorette,  where  there  is  a  small  ho 
tel  :  two  fiddlers,  both  of  Indian  blood,  played  quadrilles  and  waltzes 
in  excellent  time ;  ten  or  twelve  couples  were  made  up,  and  people 
were  so  well  content  with  this  amusement,  that  we  did  not  get  back 
to  Quebec  much  before  midnight. 

September  19. — Rain  as  heavy  as  that  of  the  heaviest  thunder 
storm  in  England,  from  six  to  nine ;  and,  when  I  set  out  to  walk  at 
noon,  expecting  a  temperature  cold  as  November,  I  found  shawls 
and  wraps  quite  in  the  way ;  it  was  like  a  warm  June  morning ; 
such  a  rapid  change  I  hardly  ever  remember,  even  in  our  changeable 
climate.  I  went  to  sketch  a  fine  view  of  Quebec  and  the  St.  Law 
rence,  as  far  as  Cape  Tourmente,  from  the  citadel :  it  was  very  windy, 
and  even  the  shelter  of  one  of  the  great  guns  was  hardly  enough  to 
enable  me  to  keep  my  paper  from  being  blown  away.  Afterwards 
I  drove  to  see  a  pretty  place  and  nice  garden  belonging  to  Dr 


CANADIAN    PENSIONERS. 

Douglas,  at  Beaufort,  near  Quebec.  Mrs.  Douglas  received  me  very 
kindly,  but  I  was  sorry  to  miss  the  doctor,  who  went  yesterday  to 
the  Chaudiere.  There  is  a  very  well  conducted  and  comfortable 
looking  public  lunatic  asylum,  in  which  Dr.  Douglas  takes  great 
interest,  adjoining  his  grounds,  which  are  extensive,  and  laid  out 

with  great  taste.  I  returned  to  dine  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  K at 

Quebec,  intending  to  go  to  the  Parliament  House  to  hear  the  Address 
discussed  ;  but  as  the  debate  appeared  likely  to  linger  on  during  the 
night,  and  we  had  a  pleasant  party  and  agreeable  house,  I  remained 
all  the  evening  where  I  was. 

September  20. — A  stormy  night,  and  the  weather  again  bitterly 
cold.  I  went  into  Quebec  upon  hearing  that  the  Assembly  had  sat 
all  night,  and  were  still  discussing  the  amendment  on  the  Address, 
which,  after  all,  was  only  to  substitute  the  word  '  secularization'  for 
*  adjustment.'  I  was  fortunate  in  getting  to  the  House  about  half- 
past  two  o'clock,  before  the  adjournment ;  so  I  was  present  at  the 
finale,  when  there  was  a  great  majority  for  the  Ministers,  and  it  was 
agreed,  without  a  division,  that  the  address  should  be  carried  up 
to-morrow  by  the  whole  House,  which  should  adjourn  till  four 
o'clock,  Thursday. 

September  21. — Colonel  Tulloch,  the  Government  Commissioner 
for  settling  and  looking  after  the  military  pensioners  who  have  had 
grants  of  land  in  Canada,  dined  here.  He  has  been  very  successful 
in  improving  their  condition,  and  land  is  not — as  it  used  to  be — a 
misfortune,  rather  than  a  blessing,  to  the  pensioned  soldier.  This 
improvement  is  partly  owing  to  Colonel  Tulloch's  plan  of  making 
the  grant  to  consist  of  three  or  four  acres  instead  of  one  hundred,  as 
was  formerly  the  case,  when  the  occupant,  unfit  to  clear  and  bring 
into  cultivation  so  large  a  portion,  was  ruined  by  it.  Now,  the 
smaller  allotments  are  cultivated  garden  fashion ;  and  one  individual 
made  fifty  pounds  last  year  from  his  three  acres,  principally  by  grow 
ing  vegetables  for  the  Toronto  market.  In  case  of  the  death  of  an 
occupant,  his  widow  is  left  in  possession  on  condition  that  she  re 
marries  with  no  one  but  a  soldier ;  and  no  widow  has  ever  yet  (Col 
onel  Tulloch  declares)  remained  two  months  without  a  husband. 


80  QUEBEC. 

Such  is  the  anxiety  for  a  housewife,  that  men  of  fifty  marry  widows 
fifteen  years  older  than  themselves,  rather  than  remain  bachelors. 
What  a  chance  for  antiquated  spinsters  wishing  to  change  their 
state  ! 

Four  of  the  gentlemen  who  dined  here  yesterday  sang  Negro 
and  Canadian  boat  songs  in  the  evening,  all  in  good  time  and  tune ; 
they  are  very  pretty  airs.  The  7 1st  Regiment  embarks  for  England 
on  Saturday,  much  regretted  here.  I  think  this  is  the  most  variable 
climate  I  ever  visited.  Last  night  it  was  bitterly  cold  ;  this  morning 
the  sun  shines,  and  every  thing  again  looks  summerish,  while  yes 
terday,  no  wraps  could  enable  me  to  stand  for  ten  minutes  at  the 
citadel  to  finish  my  sketch ;  but  I  am  told  this  month  is  not  usually 
so  cold ;  there  have  been  many  icebergs  seen  lately  near  the  coast, 
and  that  is  supposed  to  be  the  reason  of  the  unusual  frigidity  we 
feel  here.  I  miss  the  furs  which  were  left  behind  at  Boston,  supposed 
to  be  useless  encumbrances  at  this  time  of  year ;  but  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that,  after  my  return  to  Montreal,  I  shall  find  myself  again  in 
a  warmer  climate.  There  is  certainly  more  difference  between  the 
temperature  of  the  two  places  than  the  distance  would  lead  one  to 
expect:  here,  the  grass  has  been  extremely  verdant  this  summer, 
while  at  Montreal  every  blade  was  burnt  up ;  and  I  saw  nothing 
green  whatever,  except  the  trees.  I  am  afraid  my  hopes  of  going 
back  by  rail  are  illusory.  Sir  Cusack  Rowney  was  here  yesterday, 
and  he  seems  to  consider  the  line  wholly  impassable  at  present,  and 
likely  to  remain  so  till  the  16th  of  next  month;  so,  instead  of  going 
by  cars  to-day,  I  must  delay  till  Saturday,  and  then  reconcile  myself 
to  the  steam-boat  passage  down  the  St.  Lawrence ;  now,  I  shall  not 
have  time  to  stop  at  Three  Rivers. 

September  22. — Yesterday  I  was  present  at  the  Roman  Catholic 
Archbishop's  palace,  to  see  the  assemblage  of  the  clergy  of  that  per 
suasion,  for  the  laying  the  first  stone  of  a  college.  There  were  seven 
bishops,  besides  the  archbishop,  all  benevolent-looking  men.  There 
does  not  seem  to  be  much  religious  bigotry  with  that  Church  here — 
or  at  any  rate  it  keeps  out  of  sight — and  the  present  Governor- 
General  does  all  in  his  power  to  maintain  peace  and  charity  among 


LORD    ELGIN.  81 

the  differing  Churches.  He  made  a  most  eloquent  and  facile  speech 
in  French,  although  wholly  unprepared.  He  alluded  to  the  vast 
progress  in  the  material  world ;  to  the  marvels  of  electricity  and  of 
steam,  by  the  agency  of  which  the  inhabitants  of  remote  settlements 
are  brought  into  connection,  and  railroads  convey  the  luxuries  of 
civilization  to  the  backwoods  of  Canada  and  the  solitary  dwellings 
of  the  Far  West.  He  then  reminded  the  assemblage  of  differing 
Christians  that  the  spiritual  empire  of  religion  and  morality  could 
only  be  made  to  keep  pace  with  material  progress  through  the  cor 
dial  union  of  Protestant  and  Catholic,  in  the  great  work  of  educating 
the  young,  and  guiding  the  mature,  by  the  lights  of  piety  and  truth. 
The  observers  and  listeners  of  each  Church  appeared  interested  and 
pleased,  and  I  trust  something  was  effected  on  this  occasion  towards 
allaying  and  appeasing  their  differences.  I  went  to  make  my  sketch 
from  the  citadel,  and  afterwards  returned  to  the  Government  House, 
to  get  a  peep  through  an  open  door  of  the  ceremony  of  taking  up 
an  Address  by  the  whole  Canadian  House  of  Commons.  It  was 
much  the  same  as  in  England.  The  Roman  Catholic  bishops  after 
wards  presented  a  loyal  address  to  Lord  Elgin.  I  drove  Mrs.K— — 
to  her  father's  house  on  the  St.  Foy  road,  and  went  to  take  leave  of 
Mrs.  Montazambert,  in  my  way  back  to  Spencer  Wood.  There  was 
a  party  of  twelve  at  dinner — several  ladies. 

September  23. — Yesterday  I  went  a  long  expedition  with  Col. 

I ,  to  see  the  Falls  of  the  Chaudiere.     We  crossed  the  ferry  at 

Point  Levi,  and  the  drive  of  about  ten  miles  on  the  other  side  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  nearly  following  the  line  of  the  new  railway  to  Mon 
treal,  is  very  beautiful :  the  St.  Lawrence  on  the  right,  streams  and 
rivers  occasionally  flowing  into  it ;  and  rough  cliffs,  and  woods,  and 
hamlets,  all  along  the  left  hand.  The  rocks  in  some  places  were 
shaded  with  soft  grey,  yellow,  and  brown ;  and  all  was  pleasant  but 
the  road,  which  proved  difficult,  rough,  and  sometimes  dangerous ; 
more  than  usually  so  (I  was  told),  owing  to  the  railroad  operations ; 
but  the  old  French  Canadian,  and  his  little  black  horse,  which  drew 
our  caleche,  did  not  seem  at  all  put  out,  by  what  in  England  would 
have  been  thought  impracticable,  even  though  the  way  was  evidently 
5 


82  CANADIAN    LADIES. 

not  well  known  to  him,  and  he  took  us  three  or  four  miles  above  the 
Falls  to  a  railroad  bridge  over  the  Chaudiere,  so  that  we  were 
obliged  to  retrace  our  steps ;  and  this,  with  the  intricacy  of  the  place 
itself,  when  we  got  there,  wasted  some  time.  The  body  of  water 
which  comes  down  is  more  considerable  than  that  of  Montmorenci, 
and  the  spray  was  too  wetting  for  us  to  do  more  than  take  a  glimpse 
of  the  Fall  from  above.  I  believe  we  ought  to  have  been  on  the 
other  side,  but  there  was  not  time  to  remedy  this  mistake,  and  the 
view  we  did  get  was  fine.  We  scrambled  through  a  thick  forest, 
and  came  out,  through  bog  and  brake,  some  way  from  the  place 

where  we  had  left  the  carriage ;  so  Col.  I walked  back  for  it, 

and  I  went  on  to  get  a  sketch  of  the  Chaudiere,  where  it  joins  the 
St.  Lawrence.  The  sun  was  setting  before  we  got  to  the  shore, 
nearly  opposite  Spencer  Wood,  and  if  we  had  again  taken  the 
roundabout  way,  by  Point  Levi,  we  might  have  missed  the  last 
ferry,  besides  incurring  the  chance  of  breaking  down  before  getting 
there ;  but  we  were  fortunate  in  finding  a  hospitable  lumber  mer 
chant  and  his  wife,  who  welcomed  us  to  their  warm  and  comfortable 
fire-side,  and  sent  us  at  once  across  the  river  in  their  little  boat.  We 
landed  at  a  wharf,  about  two  miles  from  Spencer  House,  and  got 
home  before  eight  o'clock,  so  that  I  had  time  to  get  some  dinner 
and  rest,  before  dressing  for  a  ball,  given  by  Lord  Elgin,  as  a  fare 
well  to  the  officers  of  the  departing  7 1st  Regiment,  which  is  to  em 
bark  to-morrow  for  England  (Sept.  23d).  The  dance  was  very  lively 
and  brilliant,  and  was  kept  up  till  past  three  o'clock  this  morning. 
The  Canadian  ladies  certainly  amuse  themselves  more  easily  and 
pleasantly  than  we  do  ;  they  are  more  like  the  French,  in  their  en 
joyment  of  passing  moments,  and  are  generally  pretty,  natural,  and 
well  dressed ;  so  that  I  have  found  their  acquaintance  agreeable. 
The  Governor-General  went  in  state  to-day,  to  give  his  assent  to  the 
Reciprocity  Bill ;  and  that  glorious  measure  is  now  all  settled,  hap 
pily  for  both  countries.  There  was  a  very  large  dinner-party  here, 
almost  entirely  composed  of  Deputies  and  their  Speaker ;  and  we  all 
went  to  bed  considerably  tired  with  the  fatigues  of  the  last  week.  I 
had  intended  to  have  departed  by  this  afternoon's  steamer  for  Mon- 


QUEBEC.  83 

treal,  but  since  that  arrangement  was  made,  Lord  Elgin  has  decided 
upon  going  himself  to  Upper  Canada,  on  Monday,  and  the  railroad 
Directors  have  therefore  made  a  great  exertion  for  the  purpose  of 
conveying  him  along  the  new  line,  so  I  shall  benefit  by  being  of  his 
party  as  far  as  Montreal ;  and  thus,  after  all,  escape  that  odious 
night  voyage  down  the  river,  besides  which,  I  shall  have  an  agree 
able  drive  through  a  beautiful  country  by  daylight,  and  do  the 
journey  in  eight  hours  instead  of  twelve. 

I  will  write  again  from  the  next  place,  which  will  probably  be 

Major  C 's,  St.  Heliers,  near  Montreal.    No  letters  for  me  again  ! 

This  is  very  disappointing. 

Your  affectionate, 

A.  M.  M. 

I  shall  get  no  letters  now  for  three  weeks,  as  my  tour  in  Upper 
Canada  will  take  at  least  that  time ;  and  anything  which  comes 
here  must  be  forwarded  to  Albany,  care  of  the  Governor  of  New 
York. 


LETTER  IX. 


MONTREAL. 


MONTREAL,  September  27. 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

By  seven  o'clock  yesterday  morning,  Lord  Elgin  and  his 
suite  were  ready  for  embarkation  in  a  rowing  boat  which  was  to 
cross  the  St.  Lawrence  from  the  Cove  beneath  Spencer  Wood.  The 
weather  proved  favourable,  less  cold,  and,  though  rather  damp,  not 
rainy.  Quebec  looked  fine  in  the  misty  atmosphere,  the  citadel 
looming  above  it,  and  much  shipping  upon  the  river  below.  I  felt 
sorry  to  leave  that  beautiful  place,  but  we  had  an  agreeable  passage 

across ;  and  a  little  boy,  the  son  of  Mr.  K ,  only  ten  years  old, 

sang  Canadian  boat  songs  with  great  spirit.  On  the  opposite  shore 
we  found  Sir  Cusack  and  Lady  Rowney,  and  the  chief  conductors 
and  engineers  of  the  Great  Trunk  Railroad,  waiting  with  a  car. 
They  gave  us  a  plentiful  lunch  on  our  way  to  Richmond,  where  we 
joined  the  original  line.  That  place  and  Melbourne  are  on  each 
side  of  the  St.  Francis  River,  both  prettily  situated.  This  single  line 
from  Quebec  is  in  so  unfinished  a  state,  that  as  yet  there  are  no  fences, 
and  it  required  some  skill  and  caution  to  avoid  smashing  the  cattle 
which  had  strayed  upon  the  way.  We  were  often  suddenly  brought- 
up  for  this  reason ;  and  once  the  coupling  of  the  engine  broke,  from 
the  unsettled  state  of  the  trams,  and  we  saw  the  machine  running 


VICTORIA    BRIDGE.  85 

off  from  us  without  its  fallowings;  however,  no  harm  ensued,  we 
caught  our  horse  again,  and  it  went  on  so  rapidly  as  to  complete 
our  journey  in  about  seven  hours.  Opposite  Montreal  we  found  the 
Beaver,  a  powerful  steam-vessel  belonging  to  the  company,  awaiting 
Lord  Elgin's  arrival.  She  took  us  up  (in  spite  of  the  stream  running 
like  a  mill  race)  to  the  side  of  the  works  for  the  stupendous  tubular 
bridge  which  is  in  progress.  The  Governor-General  laid  a  first 
stone  for  the  second  pier,  in  the  bed  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  We  were 
then  rowed  across  a  rapid  to  the  first,  which  is  already  a  mass  of 
most  beautiful  solid  masonry,  strong  enough  to  resist  even  the  win 
ter  ice  and  floods  of  this  gigantic  river.  A  trowel  was  given  to  me, 
and  I  was  invited  to  put  in  the  mortar  for  a  corner-stone  of  twelve 
tons  weight,  which  we  then  saw  lowered  into  its  place  ;  to  remain, 
as  far  as  human  eyes  can  judge,  as  long  as  the  world  lasts.  The 
material  used  is  a  hard  black-looking  limestone  (and  I  heard  of 
organic  remains  being  sparingly  dispersed  in  it) — probably  Silurian. 
After  much  cheering  for  the  Queen  and  the  Governor-General,  and 
the  future  Victoria  Bridge,  we  steamed  up  the  river  again,  and  landed 
Lord  Elgin  at  the  Lake  Champlain  railroad  station,  Albany,  being 
his  best  route  for  London,  Upper  Canada,  where  he  goes  to  attend 

an  agricultural  meeting.     My  Canadian  acquaintance,  Mr.  K , 

brought  me  here  to  his  sister's  house,  which  I  find  a  pretty  villa, 
rather  out  of  the  town,  with  an  extensive  garden  overlooking  Mon 
treal  and  the  St.  Lawrence. 

September  28. — I  went  yesterday  to  seek  out  all  my  baggage, 
which  came  up  by  the  steamer,  as  it  could  not  readily  be  carried 

over  chasms  in  the  railway.     After  visiting  Lady  R ,  and  the 

intelligent  seedsman  Shepherd,  at  whose  house  I  saw  some  very 
good  drawings  executed  by  his  daughter  (both  flowers  and  figures),  I 

returned  to  Mrs.  J 's,  and  after  lunch  she  and  Mr.  J ,  with  the 

other  gentlemen,  took  me  a  drive  to  see  the  cemetery,  which  is  being 
established  upon  a  finely-wooded  hill,  about  three  miles  from  Mon 
treal.  We  drove  back  by  the  light  of  a  brilliant  young  moon, 
which  promises  well  for  my  three  weeks'  tour  in  Upper  Canada. 
This  morning  I  spent  in  the  town  of  Montreal,  making  some 


86  ST.    HILAIRK. 

arrangements  and  re-packing  my  baggage,  so  as  to  forward  every 
thing  which  I  do  not  require  for  Upper  Canada,  to  await  my  arrival 

at  Albany.     At  three  o'clock,  Mr.  J took  me   to  the  Ferry 

Wharf,  where  we  found  Major  C ,  whose  place  I  had  engaged 

to  visit.  After  crossing  the  river,  we  had  about  twenty-five  miles  of 
railroad  to  his  newly-built  house,  St.  Hilaire,  on  the  Richelieu, — a 
river  as  wide  as  the  Thames  at  Battersea.  A  sweeping  curve 
brought  us  up  to  the  station,  after  going  over  a  bridge.  We  had 
passed  by  the  farms  and  holdings  of  habitants  attached  to  another 

seigneurie,  before  reaching  that  of  Major  C ;  but  all  these  small 

farms  are  monotonous,  bare-looking  strips  of  land,  without  a  twig 
of  shelter  upon  them.  The  forests  have  been  mercilessly  extirpated, 
and  these  people  have  left  themselves  denuded  of  wood,  and  with 
land  worn  out  by  their  short-sighted  policy  of  squeezing  all  they  can 
out  of  it,  and  giving  nothing  in  return.  This  valley  was  once  rich 

and   productive.      The  good  example  of  Major  C ,  and  the 

advantages  of  the  railroad,  may  in  time  induce  these  inoffensive  but 
ignorant  people  to  cultivate  instead  of  racking  their  land  ;  at  pres 
ent,  I  should  hardly  have  supposed  they  could  draw  from  it  even  a 
scanty  subsistence.  These  seigneuries  are  of  great  extent  in  square 
acres ;  but  the  ground  having  been  let  on  from  father  to  son,  at  a 
rent  almost  nominal  (about  twopence  an  acre),  any  arrangement 
that  will  change  a  system  so  antiquated  as  their  manner  of  farming, 
must  be  a  good  one  for  both  landlord  and  tenant.  Some  kind  of 
adjustment  like  that  which  was  recommended  in  the  speech  of  the 
Governor-General,  will  probably  be  made  by  the  Legislature  this 

session.     Major  C has  built  a  pretty  Elizabethan  house,  which 

it  is  to  be  hoped  will  serve  as  a  model  for  an  improved  style  of 
architecture  in  this  land  of  ugly  edifices ;  it  is  backed  by  the  fine 
river  Richelieu,  and  about  three  miles  in  front  are  the  well  wooded 
and  picturesque  mountains  of  Belleisle,  which  belong  to  his  seig 
neurie  ;  they  stand  alone,  in  the  flat  district.  There  is  the  Mount  of 
St.  John,  probably  of  volcanic  origin,  but  looking  like  a  peaked  bar 
row,  about  seven  miles'  distance ;  but  otherwise  the  country  is  level 
as  far  as  Montreal :  and  from  the  summit  of  Major  0 's  hill  the 


A    PRETTY    EDIFICE. 


87 


view  is  most  extensive  on  every  side,  embracing  four  rivers  and  four 
]ates — the  St.  Lawrence,  Ottawa,  Richelieu,  and  Yamasee  rivers  ; 
Lake  Champlain,  that  of  the  Two  Mountains,  Lake  Richelieu,  and 
Lake  Chambly. 

September  29. — Major  and  Mrs.  C took  me  after  breakfast 

to  walk  about  the  mountain,  and  to  see  the  hotel  he  is  building,  in 
a  very  pretty  situation,  upon  the  lower  part  of  it.  I  found  some  in 
teresting  plants,  and  made  sketches — one  of  a  small  lake  in  the  bo 
som  of  the  mountain,  which  is  believed  to  fill  up  an  extinct  crater. 
Basaltic  and  other  igneous  rocks  scattered  about  are  evidences  of  the 
nature  of  these  hills ;  and  one  feels  grateful  to  an  outbreak  which 
has  so  beautified  the  landscape.  Excellent  apples  grow  in  the  nu 
merous  orchards  at  the  base  of  Belleisle,  and  here  the  people  make 
a  good  deal  of  cider,  besides  manufacturing  maple  sugar  in  quanti 
ties  during  the  month  of  April.  I  saw  no  flowers  about  the  plank- 
houses,  and  their  absence  throws  an  air  of  desolation  over  the  ham 
lets  ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  their  inhabitants  have  a  winter 
so  long  and  tedious,  that  during  a  short  summer  the  time  of  the 
men,  and  of  the  women  also,  is  so  occupied  by  necessary  agricultural 
and  domestic  labours,  that  they  have  none  to  bestow  upon  floricul 
ture.  Driving  home  I  saw  many  little  wooden  troughs  under  the 
trees  in  the  forest ;  I  thought  at  first  that  they  were  for  pigs  to  feed 
from,  but  they  are  receptacles  for  the  maple  sugar.  Young  trees 
produce  the  whitest  and  purest  syrup  ;  and  a  frosty  night,  followed 
by  a  bright  sunshiny  day,  is  the  only  weather  which  induces  a  good 
flow  of  sap.  I  do  not  see  why  we  could  not  make  maple  sugar  in 
England,  unless  it  is  that  the  sun  is  not  sufficiently  powerful  during 
our  spring.  I  saw  a  large  closet  at  St.  Hilaire,  filled  with  cakes  of 
varying  purity ;  they  looked  very  like  a  coarse  brown  soap.  In  the 

house,  Major  C has  his  office  for  the  seigneurie — resembling 

the  magistrate's  room  of  an  English  country  gentleman  ;  and  Mrs. 

C has  her  room  for  the  reception  of  the  poor  who  are  sick  or 

sorry,  where  she  affords  them  aid  and  advice.  She  is  much  beloved 
among  them,  but  never  gives  money.  This  place  will  be  very  pretty 
when  finished,  and  as  complete  and  comfortable  as  the  residence  of 


88  SILVER    HEIGHTS. 

an  English  Squire.  It  is  brick,  with  stone  ornaments ;  and  the  in 
terior  is  fitted  up  with  carved  oak,  appropriate  to  the  Gothic  style 
of  the  building.  After  spending  a  pleasant  day,  I  took  the  cars  at 
three  o'clock,  and  returned  to  my  friend's  house  at  Montreal  by  eight 
in  the  evening. 

September  30.— Silver  Heights,  Banks  of  the  Ottaiva.—l  left 
Montreal  to  embark  in  a  steamer  at  La  Chine,  whither  we  went  by 
the  railroad — a  beautiful  drive.  I  was  surprised  to  find  the  Ottawa 
another  lake-like  river,  extending  in  both  directions,  and  looking  as 
if  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  could  never  contain  its  waters,  while 
there  is  much  greater  beauty  and  variety  on  its  own  shores.  The 
first  part  of  our  voyage  of  thirty  miles  was  a  splendid  one:  we 
reached  Carillon  about  three  o'clock  ;  there  I  found  a  note  from  Mr. 

and  Mrs.  F :   and  Captain  W ,  with  his  two  daughters, 

drove  me  to  this  place.  It  is  now  twenty-five  years  since  he  became 
a  settler.  At  that  time  the  undertaking  of  building  and  clearing 
must  have  been  a  fearful  one;  but  they  have  now  a  fine  farm  and 
an  enjoyable  home,  to  which  steam  and  electricity  already  add 
the  comforts  of  society,  and  afford  a  rapid  communication  with  the 
world  ;  but  when  Captain  and  Mrs.  W.,  as  a  young  couple,  sat  down 
in  the  bush,  what  a  store  of  patience  and  energy  must  have  been 
required  to  endure  and  to  conquer  the  difficulties  of  their  situation ! 
As  we  proceeded,  there  were  some  Indian  villages  at  intervals  on 
the  river  banks  :  priests  landed  occasionally  from  our  boat,  and  once 
I  saw  two  comfortably  clothed  squaws,  with  long  cloaks  and  baskets 
of  wood  at  their  backs,  get  into  a  canoe  at  the  edge  of  the  water ; 
but  wigwams  and  tomahawks  seem  almost  out  of  date  hereabouts. 

October  1.— We  left  Silver  Heights  yesterday  ;  Captain  W 

kindly  drove  me  in  his  wagon  to  Grenville,  that  I  might  be  spared 
ten  miles  of  a  rough  coach ;  for  the  rapids  here  prevent  any  naviga 
tion  of  the  river  between  Grenville  and  Carillon.  As  we  were  rather 
too  soon  for  embarkation,  I  walked  on  the  banks  of  the  Ottawa,  and 
picked  up  some  curious-looking  fossils  out  of  the  clay  slate.  It  was 
about  five  o'clock  when  the  boat  reached  Petite  Nation.  A  finely- 
wooded  shore  extended  all  the  way,  but  no  striking  features  in  the 


LA    PETITE    NATION.  89 

landscape.  As  we  disembarked  from  the  steamer,  I  saw  a  squaw 
with  her  papoose  wrapped  in  her  blanket.  She  did  not  seem  to 
comprehend  a  word  of  French  or  English,  and  soon  paddled  away 
in  a  canoe  with  her  husband,  who  was  dressed  like  the  other 
peasants,  and  I  should  hardly  have  recognized  him  as  an  Indian. 
People  speak  of  the  '  extermination'  of  the  savages ;  but  I  should 
rather  say  that  the  race  is  being  amalgamated  and  absorbed  in  that 
of  civilized  men.  It  is  said  here  that  the  priests  rule  the  Roman 
Catholic  Indians  with  a  rod  of  iron  ;  that  they  do  not  permit  them 
to  accumulate  property,  but  that  the  Church  keeps  a  hold  over  their 
means  ;  and  that,  in  consequence  of  the  despotic  rule  of  ecclesiastics 
at  Claire  Point  (an  Indian  settlement  we  passed  yesterday),  the  peo 
ple  are  fast  emigrating  to  Bytown  ;  but  still  it  appears  to  me  that 
Roman  Catholicism  is  best  adapted  for  civilizing  the  Indians.  The 
latter  place  derives  its  name  from  a  Captain  By,  who  was  the  Gov 
ernment  Superintendent  of  the  Rideau  Canal,  which  extends  from 
this  part  of  the  country  to  Kingston.  The  city  is  in  future  to  be 
called  Ottawa.  M.  Papineau  received  me  very  kindly  at  Petite  Nation. 
It  is  not  more  than  five  or  six  years  since  he  was  his  own  architect, 
and  built  the  pretty  stone  house  he  now  inhabits  with  his  family, 
after  he  gave  up  political  life.  This  has  been  a  wet  day;  but  I  am 
fortunate  in  being  detained  in  a  place  where  I  can  benefit  by  the 
conversation  of  an  agreeable  and  well-informed  host.  Speaking 
about  the  proposed  arrangement  of  the  seigneuries,  M.  Papineau 
fears  that  the  preponderance  of  Upper  Canada  in  the  Legislature 
may  lead  to  an  unjust  solution  of  that  question.  It  is  proposed  to 
make  the  seigneurs  sell  their  reserved  lands,  he  says.  Where  a  man 
has  purchased  a  seigneurie  at  a  price  which  has  never  been  remu- 
nerati\re,  expecting  one  day  to  make  a  fair  interest  for  his  money,  it 
would  be  injustice  to  enforce  a  sale,  just  as  the  approach  of  civiliza 
tion  is  giving  value  to  the  purchase  ;  but  even  if  the  Canadian  repre 
sentatives  are  regardless  of  the  rights  of  individuals,  I  cannot  believe 
that  any  English  Governor-General,  much  less  the  present  one,  would 
give  his  sanction  to  any  act  of  spoliation. 

October  2. — A  very  pleasing  and  intelligent  young  cure  drank; 
5* 


90  THE    MASSACRE. 

tea  here  last  night.  He  told  me  that  there  is  an  Indian  encamp 
ment  squatted  down  on  the  other  side  the  river,  and  I  shall  hope  to 
go  and  see  it. 

After  breakfast,  Monsieur  Papineau  took  R and  me  across 

the  river  to  visit  the  Indians  and  their  wigwams,  so  it  seems  they  are 
not  quite  extirpated  from  this  part  of  the  country.  These  people 
belong  to  the  tribe  of  Alloconquins,  once  so  powerful  along  the 
shores  of  the  Ottawa.  They  were  designated  as  the  *  great  nation] 
and  were  generally  fierce  and  warlike  ;  but  upon  the  ground  now 
occupied  by  the  seigneurie  of  M.  Papineau,  the  French,  upon  their 
first  visit,  found  a  peaceable  and  gentle  settlement  of  natives,  whom 
they  designated  as  '  La  Petite  Nation  ;'  hence,  the  present  name  of 
the  place.  With  these  inoffensive  savages  the  strangers  fraternized, 
and  in  consequence,  their  fiercer  brethren  of  the  Indians  raised  the 
war-whoop,  poured  down  in  numbers,  and  with  fire  and  tomahawk 
destroyed  the  Petite  Nation,  and  murdered  nearly  all  their  white 
guests.  Upon  this  occurrence,  the  French  Government  gave  up  any 
attempt  to  settle  on  these  shores,  and  refused  permission  to  individ 
uals  to  do  so.  It  was  not  till  after  the  English  conquest  of  Canada 
that  the  Ottawa  river  became  by  degrees  the  residence  of  Europeans. 
There  were  only  a  few  wigwams  at  the  place  where  we  landed ;  we 
spoke  to  an  old  woman  and  her  two  daughters,  who  were  making 
boxes  of  birch  bark  ;  and  to  a  young  and  rather  pretty  squaw,  with 
her  baby  and  her  husband,  who  was  busy  "preparing  the  skin  of  an  elk 
for  mocassins.  They  all  spoke  French  a  little ;  and  being  acquainted 
with  M.  Papineau,  they  did  not  shun  conversation.  The  woman  was 
the  same  who,  when  I  spoke  to  her  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  shook 
her  head,  and  pretended  not  to  understand  me ;  and  this,  it  seems,  is 
a  common  habit  if  they  are  addressed  by  strangers.  All  the  Indians 
I  have  yet  seen  are  warmly  and  comfortably  clad ;  a  blanket  or  dark 
cloak  being  their  outer  covering,  and  they  have  good  strong  shoes  and 
stockings.  M.  Papineau  says,  the  accusations  I  heard  made  against 
the  priests  at  Point  Clare  are  unjust ;  that  they  only  use  their  influ 
ence  to  prevent  the  savages  from  destroying  themselves  by  '  Fire 
water  ;'  and  that  the  evil  inclined  complain  bitterly  of  this  check, 


NATURAL    HISTORY.  91 

and  go  off  elsewhere  to  indulge  those  drinking  propensities  which 
will  be  the  ultimate  ruin  of  .the  race.    After  seeing  the  encampment, 
we  Landed  on  the  small  island  of  Vagit ;  there  I  found  interesting 
plants  and  river  shells,  and  made  a  sketch  of  M.  Papineau's  pretty 
Scotch-looking  house,  with  its  two  towers  and  high  roof.     The  wind 
freshened,  so  that  we  were  soon  obliged  to  hasten  to  the  shore  again, 
and  returned  in  time  for  the  two  o'clock  family  dinner ;  after  which, 
Monsieur  and  Madame  Papineau,  with  the  lady's  sister  and  sister-in- 
law,  took  me  to  see  a  very  handsome  and  well-built  family  chapel, 
and  mausoleum,  in  the  grounds.      The  style  is  solid  simple  Gothic, 
with  a  low  belfry,  like  the  Welsh  churches.  The  interior  has  a  beau 
tiful  roof,  flying  timbers;    and  one  or  two  stained  glass  windows, 
over  the  door  and  over  the  altar,  give  all  the  light  that  is  admitted. 
Each  side  is  filled  up  by  large  plain  black  slabs  of  marble,  upon  one 
of  which  will  one  day  be  inscribed  the  names  of  those  who  then  stood 
around  me.  I  liked  this  little  burying-place  better  than  anything  of  the 
kind  I  have  before  seen. 

October  2. — A  very  wet  day,  the  wind  blowing  and  the  rain 
raining.  When  it  does  rain  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  the  down 
pour  is  more  continued  and  violent  than  with  us ;  but  then  there 
are  very  seldom  three  wet  days  in  succession. 

October  3.— After  breakfast  this  morning,  Madame  Papineau  took 
me  to  walk  in  the  forest,  which,  like  that  behind  Mr.  Loring's  house 
near  Beverley,  is  interspersed  with  fine  rocks  of  sienite.  It  is  now 
rather  too  late  for  wild-flowers  in  this  part  of  the  country  ;  but  I  found 
some  beautiful  ferns,  and  the  first  snake  I  have  seen  in  America  glid 
ed  away  from  our  path  ;  it  was  long  and  slender,  black,  marked  with 
vivid  green,  and  it  was  not  disagreeably  near  to  us.  Pretty  little 
ground-squirrels  ran  about  among  the  rocks  ;  they  are  less  agile  than 
ours,  and  want  the  bushy  tail,  but  they  are  beautifully  striped ;  I 
also  saw  a  black-and-white  species  of  woodpecker,  and  a  partridge, 
though  birds  are  generally  scarce.  The  afternoon  proved  very  wet, 
but  M.  Papineau  kindly  accompanied  me  to  the  little  wharf,  to  wait 
for  the  steamer  to  Ottawa  city.  We  sat  for  a  considerable  time  in 
the  parlour  of  the  French  Canadian  auberge,  as  bad  weather  had 


92 


FALLS    OF    THE    OTTAWA. 


made  the  vessel  rather  later  than  usual ;  and  we  were  almost  drenched, 
whilst  only  walking  over  the  small  wooden  pier  to  the  boat,  where 
it  was  not  without  a  feeling  of  regret  that  I  took  leave  of  my  cour 
teous  host,  who  with  his  family  had  made  me  so  kindly  welcome  to 
his  forest-home.  The  evening  soon  closed  in,  and  I  was  vexed  to 
pass  up  another  fine  river  in  the  dark.  Monsieur  Papineau  had 

speeded  my  departure  in  the  rain,  and  Mr.  M came  with  his 

carriage  to  meet  me  under  the  same  disagreeable  circumstances. 

Wednesday,  October  4.— The  moon  was  hid  by  clouds,  and  rain 
poured  down  as  fast  when  we  left  the  boat  as  when  we  got  into  it, 
almost  wet  through  by  having  waited  five  minutes  on  the  shore ; 
but  the  sun  shines  out  this  bright  frosty  morn.  Having  heard  much 
of  the  scenery  round  Ottawa,  I  was  at  first  disappointed  at  the  bare 
look  of  the  place  itself;  for,  excepting  a  small  tract  of  forest  left  near 
this  house,  the  axe  and  saw  have  cleared  away  every  tree  around  it ; 
and  the  buildings  straggle  on,  nearly  all  the  same  in  form,  though  of 
varrying  material  and  size ;  some  were  built  of  wood,  some  of  brick, 
and  some  of  a  coarse  kind  of  granite,  speckled  by  garnets.  When 
the  intermediate  space  shall  be  filled,  (which  is  in  a  fair  way  of  being 
accomplished,  for  buildings  are  rising  up  in  all  directions,  and  one 
very  pretty  Elizabethan  house  is  erecting  for  a  son-in-law  of  Mr. 
Mackay's,  which  will  set  the  example  of  a  more  picturesque  style  of 
architecture)^  large  city  will  stand  at  the  confluence  of  the  rivers 
Ottawa,  Gatineau,  and  Rideau.  The  present  town  will  then  change 
its  former  ugly  name  for  that  of  the  Ottawa,  the  largest  of  these  three 
fine  rivers ;  on  the  banks  of  which  it  has  sprinkled  itself  to  the  ex 
tent  of  about  three  miles,  reaching  to  a  handsome  suspension  bridge 
which  crosses  the  torrent  very  near  the  spot  where  it  tumbles  down 
a  ledge  of  rocks  packed  over  one  another  in  tabular  masses.  These 
falls  are  very  grand,  second  only  to  Niagara.  At  one  place  the 
stream,  after  tumbling  over,  enters  a  large  circular  hole,  and  vanishes 
beneath  in  a  whirlpool.  Each  side  the  river,  slides  of  water  have 
been  formed,  down  which  the  rafts  rush  so  furiously,  that,  though 
the  men  upon  them  look  perfectly  cool  and  unconcerned,  I  should 
ftot  inuch  like  to  be  in  their  company.  What  a  turmoil  of  waters 


OTTAWA.  93 

there  must  be  at  other  times,  since  now  that  they  are  considered  very 
low,  the  rush  I  see  is  so  magnificent !  I  suppose  it  is  well  to  visit 
these  falls  before  Niagara,  but  it  is  worth  while  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
for  these  alone.  About  thirty  years  ago,  the  gentleman  at  whose 
house  I  am  now  staying,  was  at  these  rapids  late  in  the  evening, 
with  a  lady  now  of  my  acquaintance,  and  upon  her  expressing  a  wish  to 
stand  upon  a  tabular  rock  which  divides  one  of  the  larger  falls  from 
the  caldron  below,  he  carried  her  across  upon  a  drift-plank  at  the 
edge  of  the  torrent.  It  was  only  by  the  same  way  that  they  could 

return  ;  and  Mr.  M allows  that  at  the  moment  he  repented  his 

darino-.  for  one  inch  on  either  side  would  have  been   fatal  to  both. 

O* 

However,  the  lady  preserved  her  composure,  and  he  his  courage,  and 
so  they  repassed  in  safety  ;  but  he  afterwards  confessed  to  his  wife 
that  he  shuddered  upon  looking  at  the  place  by  day-light — for  it  was 
by  the  light  of  the  moon  this  feat  was  performed.  Last  year,  a  raft 
containing  nine  men  was  wrecked  just  above  the  Falls.  Thousands 
of  spectators  crowded  the  banks,  and  by  means  of  ropes,  the  poor 
fellows  were  rescued ;  but  one  was  dragged  so  far  through  the  torrent, 
that  he  was  brought  senseless  to  the  shore. 

Friday,  6th. — This  morning,  one  of  the   young  Mr.  M 's 

drove  me  about  eight  miles  up  the  shores  of  the  Gatineau,  (in  some 
places  over  a  corduroy  road,  in  which  the  holes  were  deep  enough 
to  have  smashed  an  English  carriage),  to  see  some  falls  upon  that 
river,  which,  if  not  finer  than  the  Chaudiere  or  the  Ottawa,  are  still 
more  strikingly  situated :  a  series  of  falls  and  rapids  two  miles  in 
length,  backed  by  hills  of  untrodden  forest,  and  as  yet  unencumbered 
by  saw- mills  and  water-slides,  can  be  seen  from  the  ascent  above.  It 
is  certainly  the  most  beautiful  view  I  have  visited  in  this  fine  country. 
There  is  also  a  lake  near ;  but  time  was  wanting  to  reach  the  spot ; 
and  I  believe  few  people,  except  trappers  and  raftsmen,  have  as  yet 
penetrated  farther  up  this  river.  The  post  this  day  has  brought  us 
news  of  the  successful  landing  of  the  army  near  Sebastopol.  I  may 
possibly  hear  no  more  till  we  get  to  Niagara.  Montreal  papers  de 
scribe  Lord  Elgin's  progress  through  Upper  Canada,  where  he  seems 
to  have  been  extremely  well  received ;  met  by  loyal  addresses  at 


94  OFFICIOUS  CAUP;. 

every  place,  and  answering  them  by  impromptu  political,  social,  and 
agricultural  speeches,  which  read  as  well  as  if  they  had  been  care 
fully  prepared.  I  have  waited  long  here,  vainly  hoping  to  be  over 
taken  by  a  missing  trunk,  in  which  are  all  my  books,  paper  for 
plants,  and  other  things  of  every-day  requirement :  it  was  left  behind 
at  Montreal,  entirely  owing  to  the  intended  care  which  everybody 
evinces  for  our  interests,  so  that  we  find  it  the  most  difficult  matter 
possible  to  take  care  of  ourselves.  Parcels  are  taken  from  our  hands, 
boxes  carried  off -or  retained,  baskets  and  tin  cases  put  aside,  and  we 
never  know  whether  the  luggage  is  right  or  wrong,  either  in  the 
United  States  or  in  Canada,  because  every  gentleman  takes  it  into 
his  charge.  American  ladies  are  so  accustomed  to  be  watched  and 
waited  upon,  that  an  independent  Englishwoman  is  quite  in  despair 
at  being  treated  as  if  she  could  not  take  care  of  her  own  concerns. 
I  never  mislaid  and  lost  so  many  things  in  the  travels  of  mv  whole 

life,  as  have  been  dropped  or  left  behind  since  R and  I  landed 

on  this  side  the  Atlantic.  We  never  know  when  our  baggage  'is 
accompanying  us,  or  when  it  is  lagging  behind ;  but  usually  every 
thing  turns  up  again  in  due  time.  We  must  leave  this  place  at 
seven  o'clock  to-morrow,  by  the  Rideau  Canal  for  Prescott,  or  we 
may  not  be  able  to  proceed  before  the  middle  of  the  week ;  and 
though  I  give  up  seeing  Lake  Huron,  ten  days  will  be  required  to 
go  by  Belville,  Coburg,  Toronto,  and  Hamilton,  before  we  shall  reach 
Niagara.  The  season  is  now  getting  late,  and  I  much  fear  the  ^reat 
beauty  of  the  foliage  will  have  passed  before  I  reach  the  Falls.  Some 
trees  have  already  lost  their  leaves — a  change  which  has  occurred 
rather  earlier  than  usual,  owing  to  the  storms  of  the  first  few  days 
of  this  month.  Opposite  the  window  at  which  I  am  writing,  I  now 
see  crimson  maples,  orange  birch,  and  scarlet  oaks,  interspersed  with 
dark  furs  and  bright  green  beech,  and  silver  stems  glistening  here 
and  there,  making  this  corner  of  a  primeval  forest  in  itself  a  picture. 
Some  of  the  charred  black  stumps,  too,  are  always  to  be  seen  here 
and  there  standing  up ;  at  times  they  look  like  black  points,  or  like 
gigantic  figures  among  the  trees.  I  sympathize  now  more  than  ever 
with  poor  Mrs.  Moodie.  '  Life  in  the  bush '  must  indeed  be  a  hard 


A    FIELD    FOR    ENTERPRISE.  95 

life  for  any  civilized  woman  to  go  through.  With  all  the  aid  that 
capital  and  strong  arms  can  give,  clearing  is  slow  work,  and  one  sees 
land  that  has  been  years  in  cultivation,  still  covered  over  at  intervals 
by  great  black  stumps,  which  look  as  if  they  might  yet  keep  posses 
sion  of  the  ground  for  the  next  twenty  years.  It  is  impossible  to 
grub  them  up  without  such  an  outlay  of  time  and  trouble  as  is  out 
of  the  question  ;  and  they  have  already  been  charred  and  girdled  till 
their  durability  has  been  the  more  confirmed  :  so  between  rocks,  and 
bogs,  and  timber,  it  takes  a  weary  time  before  the  poor  settlers  can 
grow  more  than  a  sprinkling  of  potatoes ;  and  I  am  now  fully  con 
vinced  of  the  wisdom  of  Colonel  Tulloch's  plan,  of  giving  only  very 
small  portions  of  land  to  pensioners,  that  an  old  soldier  may  be  pre 
vented  from  attempting  a  hopeless  amount  of  exertion,  which  wastes 
his  strength  without  repaying  him  in  food.  Still  this  country  is  a 
fine  field  for  capital  and  talent.  Young  engineers  make  their  for 
tunes  rapidly.  The  overlooker  of  a  mill  receives  one  pound  a  day ; 
a  good  foreman  or  clerk  five  or  six  hundred  pounds  per  annum  ;  and 
any  tolerable  workman  may  earn  his  dollar  or  two  each  day — more 
than  some  of  our  naval  or  military  officers  receive.  With  a  small 
capital,  and  a  good  recommendation,  any  active  young  man  must 
prosper  in  Canada ;  but  industry  and  temperance  are  just  as  neces 
sary  here  as  elswhere ;  and  those  who  fancy  they  may  make  money 
without  earning  it  are  worse  off  in  America  than  in  England. 

Sunday  Night,  October  28 — Ottawa. — I  went  to  an  Episcopal 
church  here  this  morning;  there  was  a  large  congregation.  The 
service  very  respectably  conducted ;  a  small  barrel  organ  accom 
panied  voices  ia  good  tune.  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics  are 
about  equal  in  numbers  here,  and  there  are  chapels  of  various  de 
nominations.  One  or  two  convents  of  Grey  Nuns,  and  some  Jesuits, 
have  made  this  place  their  head-quarters.  It  is  a  healthy  situation, 
and  no  cholera  has  made  its  appearance,  though  it  has  prevailed 
much  at  Montreal.  Hull,  on  the  other  side  the  suspension  bridge, 
was  settled  before  Bytown ;  it  will  eventually  be  a  mere  suburb  be 
longing  to  Ottawa  city.  The  population  here  is  a  mixture  of  Scotch, 
Irish,  French  Canadians,  and  Upper  Canadians,  with  a  few  Germans 


96 


OTTAWA. 


and  Americans.  Bytown  is  in  Upper  Canada— Hull,  in  lower ;  so  the 
Ottawa  divides  the  two  provinces.  I  will  leave  this  letter  to  go  from 
hence,  as  we  start  by  the  early  steamboat  to-morrow  for  Prescott,  and 
this  is  probably  the  best  locality  from  which  to  ensure  the  transmis 
sion  of  a  packet  for  England — so  I  close  in  haste. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 

OTTAWA  CITY,  ON  THE  OTTAWA,  UPPER  CANADA, 
October  8,  1854. 


LETTER   X. 


LAKE     ONTAKIO. 

COBOTTRG,  LAKE  ONTAEIO,  ) 
October  12, 1854.  f 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  write  now  from  another  hospitable  villa  on  the  borders  of 
this  inland  sea.  I  heard  the  sound  of  waves  on  the  shore  last  night, 
as  on  a  calm  summer  evening  at  Brighton.  There  has  not  been  one 
minute  in  which  I  could  put  pen  to  paper  since  we  left  Bytown,  now 
Ottawa  city.  During  this  journey  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion, 
that  there  is  no  dependence  to  be  placed  upon  the  hours  or  the  dis 
tances  named  to  a  traveller  in  Canada  or  the  United  States ;  you 
may  be  informed  as  to  the  usual  hour  for  the  departure  of  a 
steamer,  and  yet  she  sets  forth  half  an  hour  before,  or  she  may 
arrive  at  a  point  whence  to  start  again  at  five  minutes'  warning,  two 
hours  after  she  was  expected.  When  we  embarked  (with  all  Mr. 

M 's  experience)  we  reached  the  Rideau  Canal  ten  minutes  too 

late  for  the  vessel,  which  went  off  sooner  than  was  expected ;  but  as 
there  were  four  locks  to  be  passed  here  (thirty -seven  ultimately)  we 
drove  off  to  catch  her  at  some  convenient  point,  but  at  the  distance 
of  two  miles  she  came  up  to  us,  having  already  been  left  behind. 
The  only  misfortune  was,  that  as  she  could  not  come  close  to  the 


98  AUTUMN    FOREST    TINTS. 

shore,  we  had  to  reach  her  by  means  of  a  raft,  which  happened  to 

be  moored  at  the  edge  of  the  water ;   both  R and  I  got  soused 

over  our  ankles.  We  were  all  day  in  wet  things,  the  stove  not 
being  powerful  enough  to  dry  us.  However,  the  excitement  and 
interest  of  travelling  are  so  conducive  to  health,  that  we  caught  no 
cold,  though,  in  addition  to  wet  feet,  we  had  a  rainy  afternoon,  and 
the  vessel  was  so  small  and  close,  that  I  preferred  staying  on  deck 
under  an  umbrella  to  the  shelter  of  a  crowded  cabin.  It  was  con 
soling  that  the  edges  of  the  canal  afforded  some  picturesque  views. 
We  passed  one  fall,  and  when  we  got  into  the  wide  calm  stream  of 
the  river  itself,  its  banks  were  interesting.  Here  I  first  saw  true 
swamps — wastes  of  water,  with  occasional  cedars,  stumps,  and  reeds ; 
blasted  or  sickly-looking  trees  and  shrubs  appearing  at  intervals 
above  the  surface.  To  my  surprise,  among  the  submerged  vegeta 
tion  I  saw  now  and  then  log-cabins,  with  the  heads  of  women  and 
children  peeping  out  of  the  doors  or  windows — not  Indians,  but 
Europeans.  What  beings  can  they  be  who  choose  to  inhabit  such 
places  in  a  country  where  there  is  certainly  no  lack  of  dry  locations ! 
These  spots  looked  like  the  personifications  of  ague  and  yellow 
fever;  but  sometimes  the  banks  of  the  Rideau  are  embellished  (like 
all  American  rivers  at  this  season  of  the  year)  with  thickets  of 
scarlet  and  gold,  each  beautiful  form  and  shape  dressed  in  the  most 
gorgeous  colours  possible  to  imagine.  I  suppose  it  is  the  hotter  sun 
and  sudden  night  frosts  which  tint  the  foliage  with  hues  of  a  bril 
liancy  unknown  to  us,  though  I  suspect  we  have  not  exactly  the 
same  trees,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  in  our  gardens.  The  sugar 
maple,  the  soft  maple,  and  the  scarlet  and  white  oak,  are  the  chief 
pigments  for  colouring  American  forests.  I  should  like,  as  an  expe 
riment,  to  plant  enough  of  these  together  in  England  to  see  if  they 
would  dress  themselves  as  becomingly  on  our  side  of  the  Atlantic  : 
the  Virginian  creeper  does  so ;  and  then  we  could  shade  them  with 
copper  beech,  which  would  make  the  picture  still  more  beautiful. 

The  Prince  Albert  steamer  is  little  worthy  of  its  royal  designa 
tion,  for  it  is  the  smallest  and  dirtiest  vessel  I  have  seen  in  Canada, 
excepting,  perhaps,  that  wretched  ferry-boat  at  Point  Levi ;  but  the 


RIDEAU    CANAL.  99 

railroads  are  superseding  canals,  and  already  there  is  not  traffic 
enough  to  pay  any  company  for  good  accommodation.  I  found  on 
board  an  agreeable  lady  from  Norfolk,  who  has  settled  with  a  bro 
ther  in  this  country,  near  Ottawa.  She  regrets  I  did  not  visit  the 
pretty  place  of  her  relative,  about  six  miles  above  the  Falls  at  the 
suspension  bridge.  This  lady  had  an  excellent  English  maid,  who 
was  made  so  happy  by  meeting  with  mine,  that  as  mistresses  and 
maids  suited  equally  well,  we  agreed  to  fall  in  with  each  other  (if 
possible)  again  at  Hamilton,  in  order  to  visit  Niagara  together.  I 
disembarked  at  Brookville,  with  a  host  of  German  emigrants,  all  of 
whom  being  unable  to  speak  either  English  or  French,  they  were 
under  the  guidance  of  a  conductor,  who  appeared  careful  of  his 
charge.  But  there  were  not  carts  or  carriages  enough  to  convey 
these  poor  people,  with  their  great  boxes  and  their  bedding;  and 
when  we  got  to  the  railroad-station  at  Kemp  Town,  three  miles'  dis 
tance,  the  train  was  delayed  more  than  two  hours,  until  the  emigrant 
party  could  be  brought  up ;  so  instead  of  our  reaching  Prescott 
early  enough  to  cross  over  to  the  hotel  at  Ogdensburg,  on  the  Ame 
rican  side  the  St.  Lawrence,  before  sunset,  the  ferry-boat  did  not  put 
us  and  our  baggage  on  shore  till  dark.  Not  a  carnage  or  a  cart 
was  to  be  seen  upon  the  landing-place,  and  we  thought  ourselves  in 
a  desperate  fix.  However,  a  good-natured  woman,  who  had  also 
crossed  over,  and  who  was  acquainted  with  the  locality,  set  off  with 

R ,  while  I  stayed  in  charge  of  the  baggage.     They  returned 

with  an  old  Irishman,  driving  his  small  cart.  He  was  very  civil,  and 
succeeded  in  guiding  our  little  party  across  a  rotten  plank  bridge, 
and  then  took  us  safely  through  the  dark  and  rather  difficult  streets 
to  a  comfortable  hotel.  Canada,  and  this  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
will  now  advance  rapidly  under  happier  circumstances;  but  hitherto 
it  has  evidently  been  kept  back  and  misgoverned,  materially  as  well 
as  morally  ;  and  in  consequence,  everything  on  each  side  the  water 
is  twenty  years  behind  other  American  shores — hotels,  conveyances, 
cultivation,  habits.  During  our  detention  in  the  railway  cars  at 
Kemp  Town,  I  listened  with  interest  to  a  long  political  conversation 
among  some  Upper  Canadian  gentlemen.  They  spoke  of  Lord 


100  SEAT    OF    GOVERNMENT. 

Elgin's  late  visit  to  this  part  of  the  country,  and  they  said  that  it 
was  a  well-merited  triumphal  progress,  for,  in  their  opinion,  he  had 
proved  himself  the  most  honest  and  able  Governor  that  had  ever 
ruled  them  ;  and  that  his  giving  up  the  reins  must  be  a  matter  of 
regret  to  all  reasonable  Canadians.  But  (they  remarked)  he  has  so 
ordered  the  Government  that  it  must  now  be  our  own  fault  if  evils 
are  not  rectified,  and  if  our  country  is  otherwise  than  prosperous  ; 
for  we  have  now  a  truly  free  and  constitutional  executive,  whilst  till 
within  these  last  ten  years  our  freedom  has  been  a  fiction.  Only 
time  and  patience  are  now  required,  that  we  may  learn  how  to  use 
our  power  of  self-government  to  the  best  advantage.  They  spoke 
of  the  probability  that  the  seat  of  government  would  eventually  be 
fixed  either  at  Ottawa  or  Toronto. 

There  is  a  proposal  now  before  the  Legislature  for  erecting  a 
Parliament  house,  and  all  buildings  necessary  for  the  executives  at 
the  former  place.  But  in  spite  of  the  rapidity  with  which  every 
thing  is  done  in  America,  it  must  require  many  years  to  prepare 
the  necessary  accommodation  at  Ottawa,  though  the  growth  of 
Canada,  and  its  central  situation,  may  ultimately  point  to  that  place 
as  the  best  capital  of  the  country.  The  city  has  several  hills  which 
would  admit  of  strong  fortifications.  Three  fine  rivers  afford  the 
advantage  of  immense  water  power,  and  there  are  railroads  in  pro 
gress,  which  will  be  the  means  of  rapid  communication  in  every 
direction.  It  has  good  limestone,  excellent  clay  for  brick-in aking, 
and  virgin  forests,  extending  hundreds  of  miles  towards  Hudson's  Bay, 
with  an  active  and  energetic  population  of  about  sixteen  thousand, 
carrying  on  thriving  woollen  manufactories,  and  gigantic  saw-mills. 
The  terminus  of  the  Rideau  Canal  is  surrounded  by  fine  scenery : 
I  can  hardly  imagine  a  place  more  likely  to  become  the  site  of  a 
great  and  thriving  city. 

Neither  Quebec,  nor  Montreal,  nor  Toronto,  offers  all  these  desi 
derata,  though  the  latter  place,  in  ten  years,  has  increased  its  popu 
lation  ninety-five  per  cent.  I  can  imagine  avast  empire,  embracing 
New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia,  having  for  its  capital  <  Ottawa,' 


THE    FUTURB    OF    CANADA 


and  with  its  ports  upon  the  sea-coast  and  thV-S 
ing  one  day  a  power  equal  to  the  United  States ;  these  two  great 
nations,  each  encouraging  a  wholesome  rivalry  in  the  arts  of  peace 
and  good  government,  content  to  be  agreeable  and  hospitable  neigh 
bours,  without  envying  or  coveting  each  other's  possessions,  but 
setting  an  example  to  Europe  of  Anglo-Saxan  perseverance  and 
industry.  This  may  be  no  more  than  a  pleasant  dream  ;  it  may  be 
that  nations  will  never  be  convinced  that  there  is  a  more  noble  game 
than  that  of  cutting  throats  and  robbing  fellow-creatures.  Still,  I 
have  better  hopes  from  civilization  and  progress ;  those  who  live 
twenty  years  longer,  will,  perhaps,  be  convinced  such  hopes  are  not 
fallacious ;  in  the  meanwhile  there  is  no  harm  in  hoping  the  best. 
I  might  have  written  this,  in  no  very  good  humour  with  things  as 
they  are,  for  our  journey  to  Cobourg  was  the  least  agreeable  of  any 
journey  I  have  yet  made,  on  this  side  the  Atlantic. 

Being  told  we  must  be  ready  to  meet  the  Lord  Elgin  steamer 
at  Prescott,  by  seven  o'clock,  Wednesday  morning,  we  crossed  over 
exactly  at  that  hour  ;  but  it  was  half-past  nine  before  the  boat  arrived, 
so  for  more  than  two  hours  we  had  to  stand  waiting  on  the  wharf ; 
luckily  the  sun  shone,  and  it  was  not  very  cold.  When  the  steamer 
took  us  on  board  we  passed  successfully  through  the  Thousand 
Islands,  and  beautiful  they  are  :  of  every  possible  form,  and  in  size 
from  an  acre  to  several  miles,  they  lie  glowing  and  gleaming  upon 
the  blue  waters,  making  the  most  singular  labyrinth  in  the  world. 
.  Of  course  we  could  not  see  the  half  of  them.  Arrived  at  Kingston, 
we  changed  our  steamer  for  that  called  the  Bay  of  Quinte.  Upon 
one  of  the  smallest  islands  a  solitary  man  has  resided  in  a  tiny  cabin 
for  years ;  he  seldom  looks  at,  or  is  seen  by,  the  passing  vessels. 
He  raises  no  flowers ;  apparently  he  has  not  even  a  potato  ground 
in  cultivation.  What  can  he  do  ?  I  saw  nothing  like  a  canoe  ;  and 
it  does  not  seem  that  he  even  visits  the  opposite  shores.  A  fine 
moonlit  evening  succeeded  our  brilliant  morning ;  about  eleven 
o'clock  at  night  we  hove-to  to  take  in  wood  from  an  island  of  con 
siderable  extent,  belonging  to  Lord  Mount- Cash  el,  which,  I  was  in- 


102  PRIMITIVE    LOCOMOTION. 

formed,  fc  *n  the  market-  :/it?  is  extremely  fertile,  and  has  a  village 
with  a  church  belonging  to  it.*  By  midnight  we  reached  Belville 
— another  dreary  Canadian  town,  where  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
captain's  assistance,  we  should  have  again  been  without  a  vehicle ; 
he  was  so  obliging  as  to  get  a  small  waggon  of  his  own,  with  a  quiet 
horse,  which  I  was  able  to  drive ;  and  thus  we  reached  a  small 
hotel,  from  whence  we  were  told  a  good  coach  would  start  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  for  Cobourg ;  but  no  beds  were  to  be  had  ; 
we  got  a  sitting-room  with  only  a  hard  sofa,  and  a  few  harder  chairs, 
so  I  was  not  unwilling  to  start  at  the  appointed  hour.  Till  near 
three  the  house  was  in  an  uproar  with  the  noise  made  by  smoking 
and  Drinking  customers ;  it  was  six  before  the  coach  (which  turned 
out  the  roughest  covered  waggon  I  ever  travelled  in)  came  to  the 
door ;  and  then,  without  any  breakfast,  except  a  cup  of  miserable  tea 
and  a  few  biscuits,  procured  at  a  stopping  place  by  the  way,  we  were 
jumbled  over  very  bad  roads,  forty-five  instead  of  thirty-five  miles, 
to  Cobourg,f  glad  to  turn  out  of  our  uncomfortable  vehicle  about 
five  o'clock.  We  found  some  difficulty  in  procuring  beds  at  the 
hotels,  owing  to  an  agricultural  meeting  that  day,  and  a  steeple 
chase  which  was  ridden  yesterday ;  but  I  had  letters  which  procured 
us  the  hospitable  reception  I  have  found  in  this  house  ;  and  a  delight 
ful  expedition  to  the  Rice  Lake  yesterday  ;  which  was  a  compensa 
tion  for  the  unpleasant  journey  from  Belville.  Mrs.  H kindly 

took  a  drive  of  fourteen  miles,  to  show  me  that  charming  lake 
village,  which  has  only  been  settled  about  eight  years.  A  half-pay 
colonel  was  the  first  who  bought  part  of  the  Rice  Lake  shore,  where 
we  visited  him.  Another  pleasing  family  soon  became  his  neighbours, 
and  now  there  is  a  thriving  village,  with  its  hotel  and  church,  in  the 
most  beautiful  situation  possible.  This  lake  may  be  about  as  large 
as,  or  larger  than,  Windermere.  Indians  still  live  upon  its  shores  ; 
one  of  their  villages  is  nearly  opposite,  and  a  fine  bridge  for  the 

*  Here  we  had  entered  in  the  Bay  of  Quinte,  so  called  from  a  French 
man  who  first  navigated  it. 

f  About  twenty  miles  on  the  Belville  side  of  Cobourg  we  first  saw  Lake 
Ontario,  and  almost  coasted  it  to  the  latter  place. 


RICE    LAKE.  103 

Peterborough  railway  extends  three  miles  over  the  middle  of  the 
lake.  We  crossed  the  Trent  River,  which  flows  from  it,  upon  a 
bridge  some  miles  farther,  on  the  Belville  road  ;  the  country  from 
thence  is  highly  cultivated.  We  passed  fields  of  turnips,  and 
orchards  loaded  with  apples,  between  Cobourg  and  Colburn ;  but 
twenty  miles  from  Belville  the  land  looks  poor  and  dreary,  and  very 
little  cleared  from  stumps  and  fallen  timber.  Cobourg  itself  is  a 
clean,  regularly  built  small  town,  with  three  pretty  good  hotels,  and 
many  shops  well  supplied.  A  steam-boat  will  take  us  to  Toronto  at 
night ;  it  is  about  sixty  miles'  distance  on  Lake  Ontario. 

October  14. — I  slept  on  board  the  Maple-leaf  last  night,  although 
we  reached  Toronto  before  eleven  o'clock ;  but  there  were  com 
fortable  '  state-rooms,'  and  I  had  found  so  much  inconvenience  from 
landing  at  night  in  strange  places,  that  I  was  glad  to  accede  to  the 
captain's  proposition  for  our  sleeping  in  the  vessel.  He  greatly  re 
lieved  my  mind  by  an  assurance  that  the  unhappy  Arctic  was  not 
sunk  by  collision  with  the  Cleopatra,  which  must  have  been  hun 
dreds  of  miles  distant,  but  that  it  was  a  French  propeller  with  which 
she  came  in  contact.  It  does  seem  an  extraordinary  recklessness 
which  causes  these  dreadful  occurrences,  when  railroad  whistles 
would  guard  against  them.  Why  are  they  not  attached  to  every 
vessel  ?  They  are  universally  used  upon  the  American  lakes,  and 
the  captains  tell  me  they  can  be  heard  at  ten  miles'  distance ;  yet 
we  submit  to  the  risk  of  our  vessels  running  one  another  down, 
rather  than  make  use  of  this  reasonable  precaution,  just  as  we  retain 
our  separate  railroad  carriages,  at  the  risk  of  being  burned,  or  mur 
dered,  or  doubled  up,  rather  than  travel  in  long  cars,  or  have  a  line 
of  communication  through  the  small  ones.  I  heard  the  other  day 
that  one  of  the  public  carriages  used  on  this  side  the  Atlantic  costs 
£750,  but  as  that  holds  from  sixty  to  eighty  passengers,  I  imagine 
it  is  Jess  expensive  than  our  compartments  which  hold  six  or  eight 
and  in  the  larger  ones  we  have  the  advantage  of  ready  communica 
tion,  and  I  think  more  air  with  less  dust.  We  left  Cobourg  about 
one  o'clock,  and  it  was  a  pleasant  voyage  along  this  sea-like  lake  to 
Toronto.  This  large  town  is  so  English  in  habits  and  appearance, 


104  TORONTO. 

that  I  can  hardly  believe  myself  visiting  the  capital  of  Upper  Cana 
da.  We  are  in  a  comfortable  hotel,  kept  by  a  Mrs.  Ellah,  who 
came  from  Plymouth,  and  was  originally  housekeeper  to  Lord  Sea- 
ton.  She  is  very  happy  to  see  English  customers,  and  we  feel  at 
home  in  her  house.  It  was  a  wet  morning  when  we  landed ;  but 
in  the  afternoon  I  drove  to  see  the  cemetery,  which  in  Canada,  as 
in  all  the  towns  in  America,  appears  to  be  placed  on  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  spots  in  the  neighbourhood.  That  at  Toronto  is 
called  Bon-vale.  A  stream  runs  through  the  pretty  dell  which 
forms  part  of  the  enclosure,  and  this,  with  the  hills  above,  forms  the 
burying-ground.  It  is  about  two  miles  from  the  town,  and  is  also 
named  St.  James's  Cemetery.  Here  I  found  (in  seed)  a  smaller 
Anemone  than  that  which  grew  at  the  spot  appropriated  for  the 
same  purpose  at  Hull,  overlooking  the  great  Falls  of  the  Ottawa — 
the  only  two  localities  in  which  I  have  found  Anemonies. 

October  15. — Fine  early,  but  like  a  cold  March  day  in  England. 
The  north-westerly  wind  was  high,  having  much  the  sharpness  of 
our  easterly  breezes.  This  hotel  is  a  large  square  red-brick  build 
ing,  in  what  is  called  Front-street,  facing  the  bay.  A  railroad  runs 
between  it  and  the  water,  which  here  looks  like  a  river  not  much 
wider  than  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  indentation  from  the  lake  is  so 
deep.  I  see  nothing  like  a  mountain  in  the  neighbourhood,  or  even 
at  any  distance  from  Toronto ;  and  the  forests  by  which  the  town  is 
backed  are  at  too  great  a  distance.  The  country  for  some  miles 
round  is  flat,  well  cleared,  and  in  good  cultivation;  but,  with  the 
exception  of  the  little  dell  I  visited  yesterday,  there  is  no  other  at 
traction  of  scenery  than  the  ocean-like  waters  of  Ontario ;  but  the 
streets  are  wide  and  well  laid  out.  When  polished  a  little,  Toronto 
will  be  a  noble  city,  though  Ottawa  may  hereafter  vie  with  it  as  one 
of  the  capitals  of  Canada. 

October  16. — The  cathedral  here  is  a  pretty  new  church,  in 
style,  early  perpendicular.  It  was  built  by  a  young  architect  from 
England,  of  the  name  of  Cumberland,  and  is  very  creditable  to  his 
taste.  The  eastern  termination  is  an  apse  rather  than  a  chancel. 
I  thought  the  windows  particularly  good,  and  they  will  be  beautiful 


LAKE    ONTARIO.  105 

when  a  little  painted  glass  is  introduced,  with  a  due  regard  to  har 
monious  colouring ;  this  happily  must  be  done  in  small  compart 
ments,  as  the  glass  is  already  thus  arranged  :  it  is  almost  entirely  in 
patterns  formed  by  triangles,  with  a  small  cross  in  the  centre  of  each 
circular  termination  ;  but  these  triangular  panes  are  so  varied  in 
size  and  shape  (although  there  are  few  much  larger  than  the  old 
diamond  pane)  that  a  pretty  light  design  is  the  result  of  these  dif 
ferent  combinations ;  the  lead  which  divides  and  unites  them  is  very 
small  and  light.  A  service  was  performed,  half-an-hour  longer  and 
half-an-hour  later  than  any  at  Quebec  ;  so  that  I  did  not  think  it  so 
well  arranged  here  as  there,  where  it  was  conducted  with  equal  at 
tention  to  the  ordinary  routine,  but  without  tedium.  Yesterday  was 
bitterly  cold,  so  that  I  heaped  on  every  wrap  in  my  possession ;  and 
if  this  is  only  a  foretaste  of  a  Canadian  winter,  I  feel  happy  at  the 
idea  of  escaping  from  it ;  for,  though  every  one  tells  me  about  the 
delights  of  sleighing  in  clear,  bright,  frosty  weather,  that  does  not 
sound  tempting  to  me.  This  morning  I  saw  the  new  University, 
and  at  the  Parliament-house  Professor  Hincks  showed  me  his  com 
mencement  of  a  museum  of  natural  history,  already  containing  some 
very  interesting  specimens. 

October  17. — I  left  Toronto  at  two  o'clock  yesterday  by  the 
Highlander.  Having  been  assured  that  we  should  reach  Hamilton 
in  daylight,  I  was  weak  enough  to  be  again  deluded  by  uncertain 
or  false  information  ;  but  the  steamer  stopped  so  often  at  various 
towns  and  settlements  (among  them  Port  Credit  and  a  pretty  little 
place  called  Oakville),  that  it  was  quite  dark  before  we  arrived;  and 

if  it  had  not  been  for  the  kindness  of  my  friend  Miss  C and 

her  nephew,  who  came  down  to  the  wharf  with  their  carriage  to 
take  charge  of  me,  I  should  have  put  up  with  any  accommodation 
on  board,  rather  than  have  run  the  risk  of  another  landing  like 
those  at  Ogdensburg  and  Belville, — not  only  disagreeable,  but,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  really  dangerous;  for  on  these  wharves  there  is 
nothing  to  protect  strangers  from  walking  over  the  edge  into  the 
water ;  and  a  few  weeks  ago,  at  Cobourg,  a  poor  young  woman, 
carrying  her  infant  (although  she  had  her  husband  with  her)  stepped 
6 


106  DEMONSTRATION    AT    HAMILTON. 

off  the  side,  and  was  drowned,  with  the  child,  before  any  assistance 
could  be  afforded  her.     I  was  hospitably  received  at  the  house  of 

Mr.  B ,  and  passed  an  agreeable  evening. 

October  18. — When  I  came  down  to  breakfast  yesterday,  I  was 
told  the  reason  of  all  the  bell-ringing  and  firing  I  heard  last  night ; 
having  been  so  accustomed  to  noise,  I  went  to  sleep  without  any 
idea  that  news  had  arrived,  after  I  went  to  bed,  about  a  great  victo 
ry  over  the  Russians,  and  the  taking  of  Sebastopol.  This  came  by 
telegraph  from  New  York  ;  and  about  midnight  the  Mayor  and  in 
habitants  assembled,  amid  cheers  for  the  Queen  and  groans  for  the 
Czar,  to  fire  a  salute  of  twenty-one  guns ;  and  no  place  in  England 
could  evince  more  joy  and  loyal  feeling  than  the  town  of  Hamilton, 
at  the  west  end  of  Lake  Ontario.  I  understand  there  were  equal 
rejoicings  at  Toronto,  where  a  large  bonfire  was  added,  to  mark  the 
event ;  but  some  touch  of  sorrow  for  the  unhappy  victims  of  the 
Russian  Emperor's  ambition  among  his  people,  and  anxiety  about  our 
own  gallant  friends,  makes  us  rejoice  with  trembling.  It  is  impossi 
ble  not  to  dread  the  details,  while  we  are  thankful  for  the  results. 

Yesterday,  I  was  taken  a  beautiful  drive  of  sixteen  miles  to  An- 
caster,  an  older  settlement  than  this.  We  first  went  up  what  is  here 
called  the  mountain — a  cliff-like  hill,  supposed  to  have  once  been 
bounded  by  a  vast  sheet  of  water,  which  covered  this  whole  country  ; 
so  that  the  northern  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  up  to  Quebec,  was 
then  also  another  limit.  In  our  way  back  to  Hamilton,  we  came  by 
a  fine  Macadamized  road,  descending  gradually,  in  a  manner  which 
reminded  me  of  Haldon-hill,  in  Devonshire;  beautifully  wooded 
park-like  ground,  gullies,  and  ravines,  on  our  right  hand,  terminated 
by  a  high  mountainous  ridge,  along  the  side  of  which  the  London 
railroad  is  carried,  passing  by  the  settlement  of  Dundas,  which  has 
already  a  population  of  about  five  thousand,  which  has  located  itself 
in  a  pretty  valley  between  the  hills.  Passing  along  this  district,  I 
could  imagine  myself  in  a  well-cultivated  picturesque  part  of  Eng 
land,  if  the  superabundance  of  timber  and  the  '  snake  fences '  (con 
taining  more  wood  upon  fifty  acres  than  we  should  use  to  fence  five 
hundred  in  the  old  country)  did  not  speak  plainly  of  American  for- 


MILTON.  107 

ests.  Before  the  lapse  of  ten  years,  Hamilton,  following  the  promise 
of  most  Canadian  towns,  will  be  a  large  city.  It  has  already  spread 
itself  out  some  miles,  and  building  is  going  on  in  every  direction. 

This  morning  Miss  C promises  to  take   a  drive  of  fifty  miles 

with  me,  to  find  out  a  family  (settled  at  a  place  called  Milton), 
about  whom  I  am  interested. 

October  19. — I  succeeded  in  discovering  the  M family,  and 

we  were  fully  repaid  for  a  long  drive,  by  the  joyous  gratitude  with 
which  our  visit  was  received.  We  found  Milton  to  be  a  thriving 
small  town  on  the  banks  of  part  of  the  Sixteenth  River  (why  this 
name,  we  could  not  make  out).  An  annual  show  of  cattle  and  agri 
cultural  produce  made  the  place  like  a  fair,  and  numbers  of  very 
respectable-looking  farmers  were  walking  and  driving  about.  We 
found  two  daughters  of  Mr.  M ;  one  of  them  wife  of  the  princi 
pal  hotel  keeper,  the  other  married  to  a  well  informed,  gentlemanly 
young  man,  the  doctor  of  the  place,  who  has  good  connections  in 
England.  We  dined  with  them,  and  afterwards  walked  three  miles 

with  her  father,  to  his  own  farm.      We  found  Mrs.  M knitting, 

seated  by  a  glorious  log  fire,  and  everything  around  told  of  the  com 
forts  and  contentment  of  a  good  English  farm-house.  These  farms 
are  divided  into  what  are  called  lots  ;  each  lot  is  one  hundred  acres. 
Mr.  M purchased  a  lot  and  a  half.  These  farms  are  much  bet 
ter  cleared  from  trees  and  stumps  than  the  land  through  which  we 
passed  from  the  Rideau  canal  to  Belville  ;  and  this  part  of  Canada 
is  altogether  much  more  advanced  than  the  lower  division. 

We  got  back  to  Hamilton  by  dark,  without  any  difficulty.  Next 

day,  Mr.  B drove  me  to  the  suspension  bridge,  over  the  canal, 

near  Dundura  Castle,  the  residence  of  Sir  A.  M'Nab ;  though  a  pretty 
situation,  it  is  placed  between  the  lake  and  a  marsh,  on  which  ac 
count  it  is  considered  very  unhealthy.  We  visited  the  cemetery  en 
closing  the  ground  where  the  British  troops  were  entrenched  before 
the  battle  of  Stony  Creek.  By  the  cars  which  start  at  three  o'clock, 

Miss  C and  Mr.  S promise  to  go  with  me  to  Niagara. 

October  20. — Niagara. — We  had  a  fine  afternoon  for  our  jour 
ney  to  this  beautiful  place,  and  soon  after  leaving  the  railroad  cars, 


108  FALLS    OF    NIAGARA. 

I  got  my  first  view  of  the  Falls.  I  had  not  a  feeling  of  disappoint 
ment  ;  they  are  quite  as  magnificent  as  any  imagination  need  de 
sire.  I  was  told  that  the  Falls  of  Montmorenci  had  the  advantage 
of  some  feet  in  heigth  ;  but  it  would  be  as  reasonable  to  compare  the 
Thames  with  the  St.  Lawrence,  as  the  Falls  of  Montmorenci  with 
Niagara !  I  was  up  before  six  this  morning,  to  see  the  sun  rise ;  it 
appeared  above  the  horizon,  between  the  village  of  Niagara  and  the 
American  Fall,  rather  behind  both :  a  fine  red  sun,  promising  good 
weather,  I  settled  in  my  own  mind,  I  would  try  to  make  a  drawing 
to-morrow  at  this  same  hour,  with  the  salmon-coloured  sky  in  con 
trast  with  the  white  waters.  This  first  day  it  was  impossible  to  draw ; 
I  could  only  look ;  for  some  hours  we  walked  about ;  I  wandered 
into  the  wood  behind  the  Table  Rock,  or  rather  where  the  Table 
Rock  once  was ;  for  it  has  now  nearly  fallen  into  the  boiling  waters 
beneath.  There  I  gathered  two  of  those  beautiful  flowers  I  first  found 
at  Point  Levi — Lobelia  Kalmii  and  Gentiana  Saponaria ;  and  down 

close  to  the  brink  of  the  river,  above  the  Falls,  Mr.  S and  I 

picked  up  three  or  four  kinds  of  shells ;  one  very  small  bivalve,  differ 
ing  from  any  I  found  in  the  Rideau.  After  dinner  we  took  a  carriage, 
and  went  over  that  marvellous  suspension  bridge,  below  the  Falls, 
connecting  the  two  shores,  already  open  for  traffic  beneath,  but  not 
yet  finished  for  the  railroad  cars  to  pass  over  above.  I  felt  rather 
glad  ;  it  was  awful  enough  now  to  pass,  looking  down  hundreds  of 
feet  upon  the  racing  torrent  below.  I  do  not  think  I  could  endure 
being  in  a  carriage  upon  this  bridge,  with  a  railroad  train  rushing 
over  my  head,  yet  it  is  constituted  for,  and  believed  capable  of  sup 
porting  all  together.  The  engineer  is  a  German.  This  is  only  a  little 
less  wonderful  than  the  Montreal  tubular  construction.  Many  peo 
ple  still  doubt  the  success  of  both,  and  consider  it  beyond  the  power 
of  humanity  to  pass,  as  proposed,  over  the  chasm  of  Niagara,  or  to 
combat  the  waters  and  ice  of  the  St.  Lawrence;  time  will  show.  My 
courage  was  again  tried  in  traversing  the  wooden  bridges  which  are 
built  over  the  rapids  between  Niagara  city  and  Goat  Island.  That 
place  also,  was  quite  different  from  what  either  my  imagination,  or 
drawings  had  led  me  to  suppose.  I  expected  to  see  an  uninhabited, 


A    PROFITABLE    ESTATE.  109 

rocky,  woody,  small  island,  dividing  the  two  grand  Falls;  but  it  con 
tains  fifty  acres,  the  greater  part  a  grove  of  fine  trees,  and  upon  one 
side  there  are  houses  and  gardens,  with  a  productive  orchard.  Upon 
the  other  shore  it  appears  as  if  island,  and  trees,  and  people,  must  all 
tumble  down  the  Falls  together ;  indeed  between  rapids  and  torrents, 
it  is  a  marvel  that  Goat  Island  exists.  I  must  spend  a  day  in  trying 
to  draw  here,  though  without  a  hope  that  paper  and  pencil  can  give 
any  real  idea  of  the  truth.  The  news  to-day  is,  that  the  accounts  of 
the  fall  of  Sebastopol  are  false,  and  that  we  have  been  rejoicing 
without  reason.  Terrible  fighting  is  still  going  on,  and  already  ninety 
British  officers  have  fallen.  Alas  ! 

October  21. — I  covered  myself  with  wraps,  and  put  a  blanket 
round  my  feet,  so  as  to  be  able  to  endure  a  sunrise  from  the  verandah 
long  enough  to  draw  yesterday.  It  rose  red  and  clear,  and  almost 
clouldless,  and  afforded  the  colouring  I  wished  for.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

B obligingly  called  in  their  carriage,  to  show  us  the  whirlpool, 

where  the  river  suddenly  turns  below  the  suspension  bridge;  we 
went  also  to  the  rapids  beyond  and  above  the  Falls.  Everything 
here  is  on  a  larger  scale  than  I  expected,  though  I  ought  by  this 
time  to  be  prepared  for  all.  When  I  looked  down  upon  the  whirl 
pool,  nncl  saw  the  carcase  of  a  wretched  horse  (which  had,  we  sup 
pose,  been  accidentally  hurried  down  the  Falls)  twirling  round  about, 
and  up  and  down,  in  appearance  like  a  small  wooden  Dutch  toy,  I 
was  in  some  degree  made  sensible  of  height  and  distance ;  a  house 
too,  on  the  rocky,  wooded  point  opposite,  was  no  more  than  a  speck, 
so  that,  by  comparison,  I  brought  my  ideas  to  something  like  fact. 

The  English  are  accused  of  being  a  grasping  nation  in  requiring 
fees  for  sights,  but  nothing  I  ever  met  with  equals  the  charges  for 
the  contemplation  of  Nature  here.  The  possessor  of  Goat  Island 
makes  one  thousand  pounds  a  year  of  those  strangers  or  visitors  who 
land  on  its  shores;  but  this  day  we  were  actually  charged  one  shilling 
each  for  only  going  into  the  wood,  from  whence  a  good  view  of  the 
whirlpool  can  be  obtained !  As  ground  is  becoming  of  great  value 
in  this  neighbourhood,  it  may  be  necessary  to  require  payment  for 
keeping  any  part  of  it  free  from  the  desecration  of  taverns  and  saw- 


110  NIAGARA. 

mills ;  but  a  more  moderate  fee  would  answer  better  to  the  pro 
prietors,  and  not  act  as  a  prohibition  to  a  large  class  who  have  not 
many  spare  shillings  in  their  pockets ;  penny  postage  proves  that 
small  charges  answer  better  than  large  ones.  This  has  been  another 
beautiful  day,  and  I  trust  we  shall  be  favoured  by  such  weather 
during  our  stay  among  this  most  magnificent,  most  lovely,  and  most 
interesting  of  all  scenery.  Yesterday  was  pleasantly  warm,  and  if 
the  sun  shines  out  for  a  day  or  two  longer,  we  shall  be  as  fortunate 
in  temperature  as  possible,  for  earlier  in  the  year  the  heat  and  the 
mosquitoes  are  trying ;  now  we  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  either, 
and  the  great  stream  of  visitors  being  over,  we  are  here  just  at  the 
right  time  for  enjoyment,  and  I  must  remain  some  days,  for  there  is 
no  end  to  the  beauties  of  Niagara — it  ought  to  be  visited  for  weeks 
instead  of  days ;  besides  the  great  variety  of  views  and  objects  on  all 
sides — the  ever  changing  appearance  of  the  Falls,  spray  sometimes 
going  up  from  the  centre  in  columns  and  graceful  curves,  now  half 
concealing,  now  lessening,  now  enlarging — rainbows  starting  across, 
and  above  and  below — waters,  snow-like,  surge-like — aquamarine, 
emerald,  sapphire,  swelling,  eddying,  foaming  !  It  is  certainly  worth 
crossing  the  Atlantic  for  Niagara  alone.  I  have  come  to  an  end  of 
my  paper,  and  this  shall  go. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  XL 

NIAGARA. 

NIAGAEA,  October  23, 1854. 
MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

Upon  Goat  Island  yesterday,  I  parted  with  the  two  agreeable 
friends  who  have  added  to  my  enjoyment  here  by  sharing  it.  I 
spent  the  whole  afternoon  that  side  the  water,  having  passed  to  and 
fro  by  the  ferry,  and  mounted  by  the  rail  and  endless  chain,  at  the 
very  edge  of  the  American  Falls.  Both  these  operations  are  awful, 
though  perfectly  safe;  and  it  required  some  determination  upon  my 
part  to  be  reconciled  to  profit  by  them,  though  they  put  one  across 
the  river  in  half  the  time  required  to  go  round  by  the  suspension 
bridge.  I  tried  to  give  some  idea  of  the  two  cataracts  on  paper, 
which,  at  any  rate,  will  be  recollections  for  myself.  I  suppose  it  is 
not  possible  to  impress  their  grandeur  upon  the  minds  of  others  by 
any  representations.  For  the  first  time,  I  felt  rather  angry  at  the 
impertinent  kind  of  curiosity  evinced  by  passers-by  while  I  was  draw 
ing,  because  they  did  not  seem  to  care  the  least  about  disturbing  or 
annoying  strangers  busily  engaged.  A  well-dressed  woman  said,  in 
a  rude  way,  '  Pray  what  are  you  making  there  ?  You  are  a  Canadian, 
I  guess  ? '  I  replied,  '  I  am  making  nothing ;  I  am  trying  to  draw.' 
'  Oh,  you  are — how  do  you  do  it? — where  do  you  come  from  ?'  I 
felt  provoked  and  said,  '  I  am  sure  you  are  an  American.'  '  Well, 
how  do  you  know  that  ? '  '  Because  you  ask  so  many  questions  ;  a 


112  NIAGARA. 

Canadian  would  be  more  civil.'  This  answer  was  effectual,  and  she 
turned  away.  Since  iny  stay  here,  I  have  observed  more  of  unplea 
sant  manners,  as  I  have  read  of  them  in  books,  than  fell  in  my  way 
during  my  tour  from  Boston  in  August ;  and,  certainly,  among  the 
secondary  classes,  I  see  little  of  the  marked  attention  supposed  to  be 
shown  to  ladies  in  the  States.  Last  night,  in  the  ladies'  saloon  here, 
two  gentlemen  kept  possession  of  the  most  comfortable  arm-chairs 

all  the  evening,  and  when  Miss  C and   I  entered  the  room, 

round  which  was  a  circle  of  strangers  from  various  localities,  not  one 
among  them  rose  to  offer  us  seats,  so  we  walked  out  again  up  and 
down  a  corridor  till  some  of  these  people  absquatulated.  This  might 
be  accidental,  but  I  do  not  think  it  could  have  occurred  in  the  old 
country.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  Americans  mistake  rudeness  for 
republicanism,  and  incivility  for  independence.  Nationally,  I  mean, 
for  of  course  there  is  polished  society,  as  I  have  been  perfectly  ready 
to  admit.  Yesterday,  a  lady  from  one  of  the  Southern  States  re 
marked,  that  we  '  English  still  owed  America  a  grudge  for  what  was 
past.'  I  could  not  help  assuring  her  she  .was  mistaken,  for  that 
neither  man,  woman,  nor  child  in  the  British  Isles  now  troubled 
themselves  about  the  war  of  American  Independence,  except  to  think 
their  ancestors  unwise  for  having  fought  about  it.  The  day  before 
yesterday,  I  was  busy  making  a  little  sketch  from  the  verandah, 
when  I  felt  a  hand  familiarly  laid  upon  my  shoulder.  Of  course  I 
supposed  it  was  a  lady  with  whom  I  had  some  acquaintance,  but 
when  a  strange  voice  asked  a  question  I  turned  round :  it  was  with 
no  small  degree  of  astonishment  that  I  found  the  liberty  was  taken 
by  a  perfect  stranger,  a  young  lady,  apparently  about  twenty,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  last  arrivals.  She  did  not  seem  the  least 
daunted  by  the  expression  of  surprise  which  must  have  passed  over 
my  face,  but  went  on  questioning  me  with  the  coolest  manner 
imaginable !  The  Indians  and  their  squaws  have  the  manners  of 
gentlemen  and  ladies,  and  it  does  seem  curious  that  even  individuals, 
among  a  people  who  are  so  anxious  to  assume  the  names  of  gen 
tility,  should  remain  so  wholly  ignorant  of  the  manners  which  are 
supposed  to  indicate  a  superior  station  and  a  refined  education.  I 


MANNERS    OF    THE    SQUAWS.  113 

do  not  the  least  quarrel  with  the  simplicity  of  the  Bush,  and  the 
poor  woman  who  took  possession  of  the  pattern  of  my  gown,  and 
the  men  who  claimed  aright  to  my  sketch-book,  were  most  welcome  ; 
but  the  mixture  of  assumption  of  high  breeding  with  inattention  to 
the  common  rules  of  politeness,  not  even  that  natural  feeling  of  re 
gard  which  a  common  Anglo-Saxon  blood  originates,  can  make  one 
excuse.     Indeed  I  think  our  relationship  makes  it  more  galling,  for 
a  parent  is  always  observant  of  the  errors  of  her  children,  and  it  is 
perhaps  in  some  degree  the  fault  of  the  mother-country  when  her 
descendants  are  unpolished.     She  may  well  be  proud  of  the  energy 
and  perseverance  of  her  large  American  family :  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  some  day  their  young  people  may  add  graces  from  the  old 
country  to  the  agility  of  the  new,  and  that  they  will  not  be  ashamed 
of  cultivating  the  virtue  of  filial  affection,  which  at  present  they  seem 
to  conclude  would  be  a  feeling  derogatory  to  their  rising  dignity.    At 
this  juncture  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  parts  of  the  Democratic 
Union  actually  sympathize  with  Despotic  Russia  rather  than  with 
Free  England !     I  do  not  believe  this  to  be  the  case  with  the  flower 
of  the  land,  or  with  the  really  superior  and  enlightened  of  her  sons; 
but  I  fear  many  would  sympathize  in  a  wish  I  heard  heartily  ex 
pressed  by  one  of  them,  'That  the  old  country  might  get  well  sold, 
and  thoroughly  whipped  during  the  present  war !'    No  details  have 
yet  arrived  of  the  Alma  battle,  excepting  that  there  has  been  sad 
loss  of  life.     The  first  news  was  probably  falsehood,  spread  by  the 
Russians  with  the  view  of  creating  dissatisfaction  when  the  real  facts 
became  known ;  but  what  must  be  the  weakness  of  a  despot  who 
can  resort  to  such  expedients  to  bolster  himself  up— conduct  more 
like  the  futile  struggles  of  a  maniac,  than  the  efforts  of  a  powerful 
Sovereign.    Before  going  to  Albany,  I  intend  to  visit  the  neighbour 
hood  of  Sandwich,  and  of  Detroit  and  Cleveland  ;  and  to  do  this,  we 
must  again  pass  through  Hamilton  and  return  to  Niagara ;  but,  as 
I  shall  have  no  other  opportunity,  I  must  take  advantage  of  this 
last  week  in  October,  go  from  hence  to-morrow,  and  return  for  one 
night  to  this  house  in  my  way  into  the  States.     It  is  satisfactory 
that  a  good  reason  exists  for  seeing  Niagara  once  again. 
C* 


114  AN    OLD    IRISHWOMAN. 

October  24.— A  beautiful  day,  with  a  bright  young  moon  in  the 
evening.  I  was  out  alone  from  morning  till  dusk.  While  sitting 
sketching  on  the  hill,  an  old  Irishwoman  accosted  me,  but  with  a 
very  different  tone  and  manner  from  those  people  I  met  with  yes 
terday.  'Ah,  ma'am,'  she  said, 'you  are  from  the  ould  country; 
and  sure  you  are  making  a  plan  of  the  glorious  waters.'  '  How  do 
you  know  I  am  from  the  old  country  ? '  '  An;  sure  then,  an'  don't  I 
know  English  ladies  at  once ;  they're  so  busy,  an'  they  don't  dress 
as  fine  as  our  folks.'  I  found  she  had  been  twenty-five  years  in 
Canada;  that  she  has  eight  sons  and  daughters,  a  good  husband, 
cows  and  horses,  a  thriving  farm  here,  and  one  hundred  acres  of 
land  at  Toronto,  and  now,  she  said,  she  no  longer  fretted  to  go  back 
once  more  to  Ireland,  because  '  Isn't  the  dear  ould  father  dead  at  last ; 
and  he  one  hundred  and  eight  years  of  age,  and  never  had  a  doctor 
till  the  last  hour,  and  was  able  to  keep  his  church,  two  miles'  dis 
tance,  till  he  was  laid  on  his  bed  a-dying.'  She  told  me  she  had 
given  her  children  a  good  education,  and  '  that  her  daughters  were 
not  dressy,  nor  her  sons  drinkers.'  It  is  singular  that  these  Irish 
people  are  so  different  in  their  habits  away  from  their  own  land. 
There  is  an  electric  telegraph  in  communication  with  all  the  lines 
from  this  place  in  the  house.  Mr.  Shears,  the  master,  conducts  it; 
he  sent  a  message  to  Sandwich  for  me  last  night,  and  one  for  a 
military  officer  to  Quebec;  and  we  had  both  replies  in  half  an  hour. 
This  hotel  belongs  to  a  company :  it  is  by  far  the  most  pleasantly 
situated  at  Niagara  ;  those  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  have  no 
views  of  the  cataract.  The  vibration  caused-  throughout  this  build 
ing  by  the  falling  waters  makes  every  door  and  window  shake ;  but 
it  is  not  enough  to  disturb  the  rest  of  a  traveller,  and  one  soon  gets 
accustomed  to  it.  Besides  the  main  hotel,  there  are  several  small 
separate  houses  behind,  which  can  be  taken  for  the  summer  or  for 
short  periods,  by  families  who  prefer  a  more  domestic  life.  I  can 
hardly  imagine  pleasanter  summer  residences. 

October  26. — Detroit.  National  Hotel. — Again  I  had  the  mis 
fortune  of  travelling  last  night  for  three  hours  in  the  dark — thus 
losing  the  prettiest  of  the  scenery  between  this  place  and  Niagara. 


LAKES    ERIE    AND    ST.    CLAIR.  115 

The  first  part  of  the  railroad  line  from  Hamilton  runs  through  mono 
tonous  forests,  only  occasionally  broken  by  clearings  and  rising  towns. 
We  passed  through  the  township  of  Dundas,  and  by  Paris,  Prince 
Town,  London,  &c.,  and  crossed  over  the  River  Thames,  which  is  but 
a  small  stream,  even  comparing  it  with  our  Thames  ;  but  for  America 
it  is  little  more  than  a  brooklet,  at  least  that  part  I  saw.  As  far  as  I 
could  judge  by  the  bright  starlight,  for  about  twenty  miles  from  this 
place  the  road  is  carried  along  a  fine  terrace  overlooking  the  country 
towards  Lake  Erie,  and  as  we  approached  Detroit,  Lakes  Erie  and 
St.  Glair  looked  beautiful,  with  shores  dotted  by  lights  from  the  towns 
of  Windsor  and  Detroit.  They  were  so  numerous  that  it  appeared 
like  an  illumination.  Our  journey  was  less  pleasant  than  any  I  have 
yet  made,  owing  to  the  crowded  state  of  the  railroad  cars  ;  though 
the  train  was  a  long  one,  some  passengers  were  actually  obliged 
to  stand  the  whole  distance.  This  crowd  was  owing  to  the  numerous 
emigrants  \vho]are  coming  up  the  country  ;  and  several  little  children 
wailed  and  fretted  all  the  afternoon,  evidently  tired  and  exhausted  by 
continued  travelling.  However,  the  people  were  good-humoured 
and  patient ;  I  heard  no  cross  words,  saw  no  ill-natured  scrambling ; 
everyone  appeared  to  make  the  best  of  things  as  they  were ;  and 
though  we  were  near  two  hours  after  our  time,  there  was  nothing 
like  a  grumble.  The  station-master  was  so  civil  as  to  take  me  across 
the  water,  as  he  recommended  this  hotel  as  more  comfortable  than 
those  on  the  Canada  side.  We  passed  over  in  a  few  minutes  in  such 
a  magnificent  steamer  (where  people  from  the  railroad  cars  found 
a  comfortable  meal  ready  prepared  in  the  saloon)  that  it  was  only 
like  walking  through  a  good  house.  Ormolu  lamps,  mirrors,  and 
sofas — it  was  difficult  to  realize  the  fact  that  we  have  been  journeying 
through  the  backwoods  of  Canada.  I  am  surprised  to  find  Detroit 
already  a  city  of  forty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  one  of  the  finest  I 
have  yet  seen  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  A  large  open  space  in 
the  centre  will  some  of  these  days  be  a  magnificent  square.  There 
are  a  number  of  churches,  chiefly  with  spires.  The  streets  are  wide, 
some  of  them  planted  with  avenues  of  trees.  The  town  contains  two 
very  large  hotels,  besides  many  smaller  ones.  The  one  1  inhabit  has? 


116  A    PERFECT   PANORAMA. 

a  dining-room  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  length,  capable  of  con 
taining  four  rows  of  tables  in  the  width,  a  ladies'  saloon,  and  other 
rooms  in  proportion  ;  and  I  am  told  the  Bidclle  House  is  equally  com 
modious.  Almost  all  these  places  have  lanterns  in  the  roof.  After 
breakfast,  the  master  took  me  up  to  the  one  here,  from  which  the 
view  astonished  me.  I  have  heard  there  is  no  place  in  the  world  from 
which  you  can  see  five  miles  in  every  direction,  except  from  the  top  of 
the  highest  mountains,  but  this  place  belies  that  assertion  :  it  is  a  per 
fect  panorama,  and  as  there  are  no  hills  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
one  sees  in  every  direction  from  ten  to  twenty,  and  possibly  thirty 
miles.  On  one  side  Lake  St.  Glair,  with  the  beautiful  River  Detroit 
connecting  it  and  the  Lake  Erie  (about  twenty  miles  distant).  The 
town  runs  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  Windsor  and  Sandwich,  both 
in  Canada,  on  the  other  shore.  Numbers  of  vessels  are  passing  and 
repassing,  and  there  is  an  uninterrupted  water  communication 
through  all  these  fine  lakes  and  rivers,  two  thousand  miles,  to  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  What  an  empire  this  will  be  when  all  its 
resources  are  developed!  And  they  are  developing  with  great 
rapidity ;  for  of  all  the  towns  I  saw  in  passing  from  Niagara  yester 
day,  not  one  was  in  existence  twenty  years  ago. 

October  27. — Yesterday  afternoon  Mrs.  P came  to  call,  and 

kindly  brought  me  at  once  to  this  place,  Park  Farm,  in  Sandwich. 
We  crossed  the  river  without  moving  from  the  carriage,  and  arrived  at 

the  house  in  time  to  take  a  walk.    Colonel  P has  not  gone  upon 

the  usual  plan  in  this  part  of  the  world — that  of  rooting  up  the 
forest,  without  any  idea  of  leaving  ornamental  timber  ;  and  his  place 
is  beautified  by  woods,  at  proper  intervals,  while  the  cultivation  of 
the  land  is  that  of  an  English  farm.  The  Colonel  tells  me  there  is 
fine  shooting  all  about  here — deer,  within  ten  miles.  Yesterday,  he 
and  his  son  brought  in  as  many  snipes,  woodcocks,  and  a  small  kind 
of  quail,  as  they  chose  to  shoot. 

October  28. — A  dreadful  accident  occurred  very  early  yesterday 
morning,  near  Chatham,  about  fifteen  miles  from  Detroit ;  upon  the 
same  railroad  by  which  we  came  from  Niagara.  Some  trucks,  filled 
with  gravel,  were  proceeding  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  miles  an  hour, 
actually  in  front  of  the  express  train,  going  at  the  rate  of  forty.  Of 


A    PENITENT   RUNAWAY.  11*7 

course  there  was  a  collision  ;  three  or  four  of  the  first  cars  were 
smashed;  and  it  is  believed  that  sixty  or  seventy  persons  are  killed; 
exact  particulars  have  not  yet  reached  us ;  but  this  seems  one  of  the 
most  fatal  of  all  the  railroad  catastrophes,  and  caused  entirely  by  care 
lessness.  There  was  a  dense  fog  at  the  time  it  occurred,  but  surely 
the  gravel-trucks  had  no  business  in  the  way  of  the  coming  train.  I 
am  surprised  at  the  large  number  of  blacks  and  coloured  people 
hereabouts  ;  nearly  all  the  lowest  population  appears  to  consist  of 
them ;  they  are  idle,  and  very  insolent  in  manner.  I  met  with  an 
English  clergyman  on  board  the  Lake  Ontario  steamer,  who  was  on 
his  way  to  this  country,  with  the  intention  of  making  an  effort  to 
civilize  and  educate  the  negroes  who  have  settled  here.  He  told  me 
there  are  at  least  twenty  thousand,  chiefly  runaway  slaves,  in  Upper 
Canada.  One  of  the  evils  consequent  upon  Southern  slavery,  is  the 
ignorant  and  miserable  set  of  coloured  people  who  throw  themselves 

into  Canada.     Colonel  P told  me  yesterday  he  was  brought 

out  home  from  "Windsor,  by  a  black  driver,  who  told  him  he  had 
*  run  away  from  his  good,  kind  massa,'  years  ago ;  and  that  though 
he  was  free  and  able  to  get  his  own  livelihood,  he  had  never  ceased 
to  repent  his  folly.  The  black  should  be  educated  for  freedom,  or 
he  is  not  the  happier.  If  mere  children,  sent  into  the  world  unfit  to 
guide  themselves,  negroes  suffer  more  by  freedom  than  by  servitude  ; 
and  I  must  regret  that  the  well-meant  enthusiasm  of  the  Abolition 
ists  has  been  without  judgment.  Dr.  Howe,  Mr.  Dillon,  and  others 
devoted  to  the  real  welfare  of  the  black  race,  all  are  of  opinion  that 
in  their  case,  as  in  many  others,  ill-judging  friends  have  proved  worse 
than  enemies ;  and,  without  having  been  among  the  planters,  my 
observation  in  the  States,  of  the  majority  of  free  blacks,  already  leads 
me  to  the  same  conclusion.  It  is  not  a  question  between  the  wicked 
ness  of  a  system  of  human  bondage  and  the  duty  of  shaking  it  oft', 
but  one  as  to  the  wisdom  of  getting  rid  of  an  evil,  without  making 
use  of  common  sense  in  the  manner  of  curing  it.  Colonel  and  Mrs. 

P took  me  a  drive  yesterday  afternoon  along  the  shore  of  the 

Detroit  (which  is  rather  a  strait,  twenty  miles  long,  connecting  the 
Lakes  St.  Clair  and  Erie,  than  a  river).  It  looks,  in  some  places, 


118  SCARCITY    OF    SERVANTS. 

from  five  to  seven  miles  wide ;  and  there  is  no  more  stream  than 
that  movement  which  is  occasioned  by  a  slight  difference  of  level 
between  the  two  waters.  Some  fishermen  were  fishing  for  white  fish, 
and  a  kind  of  fresh-water  herring.  The  nets  were  taken  out  in  boats, 
as  in  England ;  but,  when  the  ends  were  to  be  drawn  in,  the  rope 
was  fastened  to  a  windlass,  and  a  horse  trotting  round  and  round, 
soon  brought  the  net  on  shore — a  saving  of  both  time  and  labour. 
I  saw  a  curious  kind  of  fish-lizard  brought  out ;  it  was  about  two 
feet  in  length  from  the  end  of  the  tail  to  its  round  cat-like  snout ;  it 
crawled  along  the  ground  on  its  short  legs  and  tortoise-like  feet,  and 
was  altogether  a  disgusting-looking  beast.  The  fishermen  said  its 
bite  was  very  poisonous,  and  it  had  the  yellowish-brown  lurid  look 
which  seems  to  appertain  to  venomous  reptiles ;  but  Dr.  Kirtland 
says  it  is  perfectly  harmless.  We  induced  them  to  throw  it  back 
into  the  water,  where  it  probably  exercises  some  virtues  not  to  be 
guessed  when  it  is  seen-  out  of  its  natural  element.  I  found  many 
little  fresh-water  shells  on  the  shore,  and  one  mussel,  with  a  wing 
appendage  almost  like  that  of  a  rostellaria.  A  sunset  more  lovely 
than  any  I  have  before  seen ;  it  promised  fine  weather — a  happy 
promise  for  me,  as  I  find  myself  again  obliged  to  take  part  of  my 
voyage  to  Cleveland  by  night.  No  steamer  leaves  Detroit  earlier 
than  four  o'clock  to-day  ;  but  I  shall  have  daylight  for  the  river,  so 
I  must  be  reconciled  to  being  in  darkness  on  Lake  Erie,  with  the 
consolation  of  a  moon,  now  some  days  old.  Such  quantities  of  apples 
here,  rotting  on  the  ground  for  want  of  hands  to  gather  them.  The 
negroes  will  not  take  that  trouble,  even  for  pay  ;  and,  in  spite  of  the 
great  emigration,  labour  is  much  wanted :  people  are  in  distress  for 

both  out-of-door  and  in-door  servants.     I  walked  with  Mrs.  P 

down  to  the  river  :  many  black  and  mulatto  children  were  playing 
about  near  some  small  log-houses,  close  to  a  marsh,  on  its  shore ; 
one  clean-looking  intelligent  girl,  about  seven,  helped  to  look  for 
shells,  and  then  asked  me  to  visit  her  mother,  who,  she  said,  was 
sick  in  a  hut,  close  by.  I  followed  the  child,  and  found  her  mother 
in  bed,  quite  alone,  with  the  exception  of  a  tiny  black  babe,  only 
two  hours  old,  by  her  side.  She  received  me  cordially ;  conversed 


SANDWICH.  119 

in  a  cheerful,  intelligent  manner,  and  said  she  was  brought  by  a 
lady  from  Maryland  to  this  place,  twenty  years  ago,  when  only 
seventeen  years  of  age ;  this  kind  mistress  gave  her  freedom,  and 
she  married  a  husband  of  her  own  colour,  who  works  in  the  boats. 
I  said,  'Are  you  glad  to  be  free?' — 'Oh,  am  I  not?  it  is  only  the 
ignorant  and  the  lazy  ones  who  do  not  care  to  be  free  ;  but  then 
they  be  most  so.'  She  has  three  girls  alive,  besides  her  baby-boy, 
whose  arrival  makes  her  very  happy,  because  she  has  lost  three  boys. 
Everything  around  this  woman  spoke  of  tidy  and  cleanly  habits ;  a 
little  Bible  well  bound  was  on  the  table  close  to  her  bed,  and  other 
comforts  evinced  education  and  order  beyond  the  usual  negro  habits. 
I  afterwards  visited  the  hut  of  an  old  negro  washerwoman,  who 
lived  alone,  and  seemed  a  kind,  industrious  old  soul.  In  the  other 
houses  of  the  black  people,  I  was  told  I  should  find  nothing  but 
dressy,  saucy,  idle  folk.  We  were  in  Detroit  to  meet  the  steamer 
at  four  o'clock  ;  then  it  was  discovered  she  would  not  start  till  night, 
and  after  spending  many  tiresome  hours,  waiting  and  expecting,  the 
Ocean  did  not  get  under  way  till  near  midnight ;  and  when  on 
board  I  found  out  I  might  have  set  of!  by  nine  o'clock  this  beautiful 
morning,  if  I  had  gone  by  a  boat  to  Sandusky,  whence  a  railroad 
would  have  carried  me  to  Cleveland  before  dusk,  and  I  should  have 
steamed  up  the  Detroit  River,  with  a  bright  sun  over  my  head,  in 
stead  of  traversing  it  when  even  the  early  moonlight  was  over.  En 
revanche,  I  had  a  fine  sunrise  on  Lake  Erie.  I  have  now  passed  one 
night  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  one  on  Lake  Ontario,  and  the  last  on 
Lake  Erie,  besides  two  or  three  landings  in  the  dark ;  and  this  ob 
scure  mode  of  travelling  is  so  usual  on  this  side  the  Atlantic,  that  it 
requires  some  perseverance  and  energy,  really  to  acquire  knowledge 
about  localities  in  America.  To-morrow  I  shall  set  forth  by  rail  to 
Buffalo — in  daylight,  I  hope  ;  so  that  only  the  last  part  of  my  jour 
ney  will  be  in  the  dark,  and  I  shall  reach  Niagara  by  moonlight. 
These  late  slaughtering  railroad  accidents  are  enough,  I  should  think, 
to  counteract  the  American  and  Canadian  predilection  for  night 
travelling.  But  it  does  appear  as  if  these  active  people  would  rather 
sacrifice  their  lives  than  lose  an  hour  of  their  time  while  they  do 


120  CLEVELAND. 

live.  *  Dollars  and  time,  time  and  dollars,'  should  be  the  motto  on 
this  side  the  Atlantic.  Cleveland  is  another  pretty  place,  with  streets 
as  wide  as  those  of  Detroit,  and  a  growing  population  of  forty 
thousand.  New  churches  here  also  starting  up  in  every  direction. 
Religion  has  certainly  her  due  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  inhabitants, 
though  the  worship  of  Mammon  may  here,  as  elsewhere,  compete 
with  a  better  faith. 

October  30. — Here  I  am  still  at  Cleveland,  in  spite  of  my  resolu 
tion  to  return  to  Niagara  this  evening ;  but  it  was  quite  impossible  to 
resist  the  temptations  offered  by  the  kindness  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Kirt- 
land,  and  we  slept  last  night  at  their  house,  five  miles  from  hence. 
His  garden  was  the  first  I  have  ever  seen  since  that  at  Cambridge, 
which  offered  many  objects  of  interest.  Besides  other  plants  new  to 
me,  I  gathered  berries  of  a  singular  colour,  greenish  blue,  from  an 
Ampelosis,  with  briony-like  leaves.  Dr.  Kirtland  has  paid  great  at 
tention  to  the  improvement  of  fruits,  particularly  cherries,  and  he  is 
a  most  scientific  naturalist ;  his  birds,  stuffed  and  arranged  by  him 
self,  excel  those  of  Waterton  ;  and  the  manner  in  which  his  entomo 
logical  specimens  are  preserved  is  quite  unique  and  admirable;  they 
are  in  frames,  with  glass  behind  and  before,  so  that  they  can  be 
observed  on  all  sides,  and  when  held  up  to  the  light,  while,  being 
rendered  impervious  to  air  and  unassailable  to  insects,  they  are 
indestructible.  I  am  promised  a  specimen  case,  which  will  be  an 
invaluable  example  to  collectors  and  museums  in  Europe.  Dr. 
Kirtland  was  also  so  obliging  as  to  give  me  numerous  shells  from  the 
fresh  waters  of  this  district,  which  differ  from  those  I  found  on  the 
Ottawa  and  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Champlain ;  and  this  morning  he 
took  me  a  walk  through  the  forests,  where  I  found  a  great  deal  of 
the  pretty  Cornus  florida,  and  seeds  of  a  Geradia,  differing  from  that 
growing  near  Lake  Winnipiseogee.  The  oak  most  common  here, 
is  called  the  grey  oak :  there  is  another  with  chestnut-shaped  leaves 
and  a  long  acorn,  and  one  with  deeply  cut,  small  shining  leaves. 
The  Sassafras  and  three  or  four  species  of  poplar  also  grow  in  this  for 
est,  but  no  evergreens ;  and  none  are  to  be  seen  between  a  place 
called  Paynesville  and  Detroit,  unless  in  gardens ;  no  firs,  no  cedars, 


BATTLE    OF   THE    ALMA.  121 

no  Lignum  vitse  (which  grows  so  beautifully  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ottawa  and  the  Gatineau,  and  again  at  Niagara) ;  but  the  variety  of 
trees  and  shrubs  is  greater  here  than  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Sand 
wich,  where  the  forests  are  principally  beech,  and  the  white  and 
scarlet  oak,  with  tamarisks  in  the  swamps.  The  orchards  at  this 
place  are  very  productive :  peaches,  cherries,  and  excellent  apples. 
Among  the  last,  the  true  golden  pippin  and  nonpareil.  Dr.  Kirtland 
is  famed  for  his  cultivation  of  fruit. 

This  evening  I  have  been  much  interested,  having  for  the  first 
time  read  the  details  of  the  sad,  though  successful  battle  of  Alma ; 
but  our  heroes  have  not  died  in  vain — they  died  as  missionaries  of 
truth  and  civilization.  Those  English  and  French  soldiers  who  have 
fallen  side  by  side  at  the  battle  of  Alma,  have  sealed  with  their  blood 
a  lasting  alliance  between  their  respective  nations  ;  and  thousands  of 
serfs  will  go  to  school  in  England,  and  there  learn  that  they  are  men. 
I  came  back  to  sleep  at  the  Weddell  Hotel,  where  the  accommoda 
tion  is  excellent,  and  we  hope  to  ascertain  exactly  the  hour  when  a 
railroad  train  starts  for  Niagara  viti  Buffalo,  to-morrow  morning. 
One  comfort  is,  the  time  of  the  cars  cannot  be  so  difficult  to  discover 
as  that  of  the  steamer  Ocean,  at  Detroit,  where  we  walked  up  and 
down  the  wharves  for  more  than  two  hours,  without  being  able  to 
find  out  from  any  man,  woman,  or  child,  where  the  great  steamer 
had  hid  herself!  People  in  these  rising  cities  are  all  too  busy  to 
know  anything  that  does  not  concern  their  immediate  objects. 

November  1. — Niagara. — To-day  we  go  to  Canandaigua,  having 
safely  returned  last  night  to  this  place. 

November  2. — Owing  to  the  impossibility  of  getting  correct  in 
formation,  I  was  sent  across  country,  and  we  were  all  day  on  the 
American  shore  of  the  Falls.  At  half-past  seven  in  the  evening  the 
cars  did  start,  but  before  eight  we  were  brought  to  a  standstill ;  for 
the  engine  and  the  two  first  carriages  ran  off  the  line,  owing  to  some 
miscreant  having  removed  a  rail.  No  person  was  injured,  but  for 
six  mortal  hours  we  were  kept  waiting  until  trains  came  up  each 
way,  so  as  to  allow  of  an  exchange  of  passengers  and  luggage  ;  and 
it  was  seven  in  the  morning  before  the  cars  which  received  us  at  the 


122  CAYUGA    LAKE. 

place  of  stopping  reached  Canandaigua.  The  lake  there  is  not  so 
picturesque  as  most  of  those  I  have  seen  ;  but  there  is  a  nice  small 
town,  and  the  house  from  which  I  write  is  the  most  comfortable  and 
best  appointed  of  any  I  have  yet  seen  in  the  United  States.  Ithaca 
will  be  our  next  halting-place ;  it  is  upon  the  Cayuga  Lake. 

November  5. —  Cayuga  Lake,  Ithaca. — In  our  way  to  this  place, 
yesterday,  we  came  by  rail  to  Cayuga  Bridge,  and  there  awaited  the 
steamboat  Forest  City,  to  carry  us  forty  miles  down  the  lake  to 
Ithaca.  During  the  three  hours  of  our  detention,  I  took  a  walk, 
made  a  sketch  of  the  place  from  a  spot  about  a  mile  and  a  half  off, 
and  found  a  plane  tree,  which  appears  to  me  to  differ  from  both  the 
oriental  and  occidental,  though  rather  more  like  the  latter.  It  is 
here  called  button  tree,  from  its  hanging,  round  seed-vessels.  I 
gathered  some  of  the  latter  nearly  ripe,  and  also  a  leaf.  Upon  the 
weeping  elms  it  is  interesting  to  see  the  little  nest  of  the  hanging 
Oriole,  which  thus  builds  out  of  the  reach  of  danger  from  terres 
trial  enemies — boy,  beast,  or  reptile.  Whether  they  have  winged 
assailants,  I  do  not  know.  A  wind  from  the  north  yesterday  was 
very  cold>  and  on  board  the  steamboat  I  was  obliged  to  confine 
myself  to  the  cabin  ;  the  shores  of  these  lakes  are  pretty,  and  we 
touched  at  a  village  called  Aurora,  a  very  rural-looking  spot.  I  saw 
many  nice-looking  houses,  with  a  better  show  of  flowers  and  of  well- 
kept  gardens  than  is  common  in  America ;  and  as  we  advanced 
towards  Ithaca,  rocks  and  picturesque  gullies  became  frequent ;  the 
country  hilly  and  broken.  A  railroad,  carried  to  the  end  of  the  long 
pier,  received  us  on  our  landing,  and  took  the  passengers  to  Ithaca, 

a  mile  beyond,  where  I  found  Mr.  G had  obligingly  brought 

his  carriage  to  take  me  to  his  home.  Sunday  :  a  bright  sunshiny 
morning  like  a  fine  November  day  in  England.  The  leaves  here 
have  nearly  all  fallen,  and  it  is  time  to  give  up  touring  in  the 
Northern  States  ;  but,  as  I  understand  the  election  for  the  Governor 
ship  of  New  York  takes  place  on  Tuesday,  and  that  on  that  day 
Governor  Seymour  will  either  be  re-elected  or  supplanted,  I  shall 
remain  here  to-morrow,  and  sleep  at  Syracuse  on  Tuesday,  so  as  not 
to  pay  my  visit  at  Albany  until  the  election  day  is  over. 


ITHACA.  123 

Ithaca,  November    6. — Snow    and   ice ;    bitter  cold   north-east 

wind,  so  that,  though  Mrs.  G kindly  drove  me  out  to  make  a 

sketch  of  the  place,  we  were  both  too  cold  to  fulfil  our  intentions  of 
visiting  some  of  the  waterfalls  in  the  neighbourhood.  I  could  only 
view  one  of  the  most  considerable  from  a  distance.  It  has  a  height 

o 

of  between  two  and  three  hundred  feet,  and  must  be  fine  when  water 
is  abundant.  From  the  great  depth  of  these  falls,  the  stream  now 
looks  only  like  white  gauze  spread  over  the  rocks,  and  it  disappears 
in  foam.  A  gentleman  told  me  that  the  derivation  of  the  word 
Ravine  is  Ravel,  from  the  waters  being  ravelled  out  as  they  tumble 
down. 

Syracuse,  November  7. — We  came  fifty  miles  round  yesterday, 
through  the  Valley  of  the  Susquehanna,  to  avoid  retracing  our  way  by 
Lake  Cayuga.  A  new  railroad  was  opened  only  last  month,  from  a 
place  called  Binghampton  (about  thirty  miles  from  Ithaca)  to  Syra 
cuse.  Oswego  was  our  first  stopping  place ;  the  inconvenience  of 
choosing  an  indirect  route  being,  that  we  have  to  change  cars  twice. 
Two  gentlemen,  to  whom  I  was  introduced  before  leaving  Ithaca, 
Mr.  Cox  and  Mr.  Parker,  reside  at  Oswego.  A  fine  example  of 
engineering  is  displayed  in  getting  the  cars  up  the  steep  hills,  by 
forward  and  retrogressive  movements,  with  a  switch  at  one  point ;  so 
that  the  pretty  '  Forest  City,'  Ithaca,  is  seen  at  various  distances  several 
times  during  the  first  five  miles  of  the  ascent ;  but  no  chains  are 
used.  The  country  has  a  wintry  appearance — snow  upon  the  hills, 
and  even  a  little  by  the  wayside.  We  passed  through  part  of  the 
picturesque  Valley  of  the  Susquehanna,  following  that  river  close 
upon  its  banks  some  way.  There  I  saw  timber-trees  of  the  hemlock 
spruce  ;  and  at  a  large  town  called  Homer,  five  churches,  each  of 
considerable  size,  all  in  a  row,  without  any  intervening  houses. 
No  time  or  room  for  more. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


f 


r  ~W  *~  r  ~W 
,^* 


^     *f^  ^  1^      ^  ^  ^ 


LETTER  XII. 

ALBANY. 

ALBANY,  NEW  YORK,  ) 


MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

A  snowy  morning  at  Syracuse  made  it  impossible  to  see 
anything  of  that  town,  or  its  salt-works  ;  the  valuable  briny  springs 
there  so  cheapen  one  great  necessary  of  life,  that  I  am  told,  twenty 
miles  off,  a  large  barrel  of  salt  may  be  purchased  for  a  dollar.  The 
ladies'  saloon  at  the  hotel  where  I  slept,  exhibited  that  usual  absence 
of  occupation  which  I  have  remarked  at  all  such  places — rocking- 
chairs,  lounges,  and  ennui !  One  young  lady  took  something 
like  a  small  tract  in  her  hand,  and  in  a  few  minutes  was  asleep  on 
a  sofa — this  at  half-past  ten  in  the  morning.  When  a  gentleman 
came  in,  and  asked  for  her — '  Oh  ! '  said  another  lady,  her  compan 
ion,  '  she's  asleep ;  but  she'll  wake  up  by  dinner-time.'  And  this 
information  was  not  given  the  least  in  a  satirical  tone.  We  left 
Syracuse  by  the  eleven  o'clock  train  during  a  thick  snow-storm  ; 
but  at  noon  sunshine  broke  out.  We  passed  through  a  fine  country 
by  Rome,  Utica,  and  Schenectady,  skirting  the  river  at  the  latter 
place.  At  Little  Falls  such  abundance  of  rocks  !  I  longed  to  stop 
for  a  botanical  scramble  among  them.  Perhaps  next  June,  when  the 
weather  is  more  favourable  for  a  visit  to  Utica  and  Trenton,  I  may 
be  again  at  this  place.  By  five  o'clock  our  train  reached  Albany, — 


GOVERNOR   SEYMOUR.  125 

a  pleasant,  rapid  journey  of  ninety  miles,  during  which  the  cars 
slided  safely  and  pleasantly  along.  No  troublesome  companions — 
but  some  pretty  young  ladies  behind  me  appeared  to  think  them 
selves  privileged  to  laugh  and  talk  louder  than  any  one  else,  because 
they  were  better  dressed ;  and  a  gentleman  in  front  evidently  con 
sidered  it  the  bounden  duty  of  an  American  citizen  to  be  bearish. 
In  the  hope  of  softening  his  temper,  I  offered  him  the  morning 
paper ;  he  took  it  without  the  smallest  acknowledgment,  and,  when 
done  with,  put  it  down  without  even  returning  it.  Whether  he  dis 
covered  we  were  4  British,'  and  an  anti-English  feeling  possessed  him, 
I  don't  know ;  but  still  there  was  a  spice  of  kindness  lying  under 
his  sulky  manner,  for  when  a  poor  old  woman  and  a  girl  entered  the 
car,  he  removed  his  valise,  and  gave  them  his  seat. 

While  stopping  at  one  of  the  stations,  a  tall  handsome  Indian 
girl,  with  some  bead-work  in  her  hand,  entered  the  car;  she  wore  a 
picturesque  dress,  with  a  black  hat  and  feather,  and  silently  present 
ing  her  wares  without  importunity,  she  glided  on.  The  noisy  and 
reckless,  or  ungainly,  sulky  manner  of  those  around  contrasted  un 
favourably  with  the  subdued,  unobtrusive,  graceful  dignity  of  the 
squaw.  Nature's  gentlemen  and  gentlewomen,  the  Indians  have  a 
true  courtesy  and  a  simple  politeness,  which  might  be  advantageously 
copied  by  those  who  are  their  superiors  in  knowledge  and  power. 

The  Governor  of  New  York,  to  whom  I  was  introduced  at  New 
port,  met  us  at  Albany  station,  and  I  am  now  at  his  house.  In  the 
midst  of  a  severe  contest  with  two  opponents  (an  election,  for  which 
the  votes  amount  to  500,000),  he  preserves  a  manner  of  cairn  in 
difference  which  his  friends  do  not  emulate.  I  confess  myself  deeply 
interested  in  the  result — not  so  much  for  Mr.  Seymour's  sake  (be 
cause  with  his  love  of  country  pursuits,  and  his  freedom  from  weak 
ambition,  I  really  believe  his.  personal  happiness  will  rather  be  in 
creased  than  diminished  by  a  return  to  private  life) ;  but  because  I 
believe  the  welfare  of  this  large  population  to  be  well-cared  for 
while  the  power  is  in  his  hands.  In  England  we  have  but  little 
idea  of  the  influence  exercised  by  the  local  Governors  in  the  Union. 
Governor  Seymour  has  the  unlimited  power  of  pardoning  criminals, 


126  A    TRANSATLANTIC    WEDDING. 

and  is  also  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  this  'Em 
pire  State.'  He  holds  his  office  for  two  years  only,  unless  re-elected 
at  the  end  of  that  time.  In  some  of  the  States,  the  Governor's  tenure 
is  four  years  ;  and  Wright,  of  Indiana,  has  now  been  its  head  nearly 
eight  years.  They  are,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  constitutional 
sovereigns  for  the  time  being ;  and  seeing  a  man  of  Horatio  Sey 
mour's  benevolence,  judgment,  and  ability  placed  in  this  situation, 
I  shall  regret  if  popular  caprice  replaces  him  by  an  inferior  states 
man.  One  of  the  candidates  is  a  'Know-nothing,'  and  he  has  only 
party  support.  I  have  no  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Clark,  the  man 
who  runs  Seymour  hard ;  if  he  succeeds,  his  success  will  be  owing 
to  an  amiable,  though  I  suspect  a  mistaken  public  feeling — about 
the  introduction  of  the  Maine  prohibitory  liquor  law.  Governor 
Seymour  has  fearlessly  and  honestly  withheld  his  assent  to  the  in 
troduction  of  that  law  into  this  State.  Upon  all  other  points,  he  is 
popular ;  but  an  extreme  and  (with  some)  a  religious  feeling,  moves 
the  popular  opinion,  and  Clark  is  a  '  no  liquor  man.'  None  can 
have  a  more  sincere  horror  of  intemperance  than  myself;  but  there 
is  a  use  as  well  as  an  abuse  of  all  things ;  and  I  doubt  the  wisdom 
of  guiding  a  people  to  the  wise  use  of  a  useful  article,  by  prohibiting 
it  altogether. 

Albany,  Nov.  10. — I  went  to  a  wedding  last  night :  very  differ 
ently  arranged  from  an  English  marriage,  but  interesting.  A  pleas 
ing,  well-attired  young  bride  of  twenty — the  bridegroom  twenty-six. 
They  stood  side  by  side,  at  one  end  of  a  well-filled  room,  while  a 
Presbyterian  minister  addressed  a  suitable  but  short  exhortation  to 
them.  He  then  gave  the  ring  to  be  placed  upon  the  bride's  finger, 
telling  her  to  wear  it  as  a  pledge  of  her  husband's  affection,  and  as 
a  reminder  of  her  own  duties ;  and  after  his  blessing  upon  them 
both,  the  ceremony  was  concluded.  It  took  place  at  eight  o'clock, 
in  the  presence  of  from  two  to  three  hundred  friends.  The  young 
wife  remained  awhile  in  her  place  to  receive  the  kisses  of  her  rela 
tions,  and  the  congratulations  of  all.  I  was  introduced ;  and  she 
thanked  me  prettily  for  my  presence,  and  offered  her  cheek.  Her 
dress  was  just  like  our  English  brides,  excepting  that  the  white  robe 


THE    MUSEUM.  127 

had  a  train.  She  looked  calmly  happy.  The  evening  was  closed 
by  a  plentiful  standing  supper — hot  oyster  soup,  <fec.  In  the  morn 
ing  I  went  to  see  hothouses  and  greenhouses  belonging  to  a  relation 
of  Mrs.  Seymour,  managed  by  a  gardener  \vho  was  under  Sir  Joseph 
Paxton.  Mr.  Morrison  does  credit  to  his  teacher  :  he  has  the  best 
managed  collection  of  plants  I  have  seen  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  a  Lycopodium  quite  new  to  me.  The  view  from  an  elevation 
in  Mr.  Coming's  garden  is  very  extensive,  overlooking  Albany  and 
Troy,  with  fine  reaches  of  the  Hudson ;  the  Catskill  mountains  in 
the  distance  one  way,  and  a  range  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State 
in  the  other.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  in  coming  from  Niagara 
here,  I  have  traversed  as  much  country  as  if  I  had  journeyed  from 
John  O'Groat's  House  to  London  !  I  begin  to  think  nothing  of  a 
distance  of  two  hundred  miles.  This  evening  we  spent  some  time 
in  a  Museum  of  Natural  History,  which  is  doubly  interesting,  from 
being  entirely  confined  to  the  productions  of  this  State ;  so  that,  my 
mind  not  being  overwhelmed  with  variety,  I  was  able  to  see,  and  to 
understand  what  I  did  see,  to  much  greater  advantage.  The  geology 
of  New  York  is  an  epitome  of  that  of  the  world,  though  it  contains 
some  details  as  well  as  numerous  objects  not  known  in  Europe.  Our 
chalk  and  oolite  beds  are  wanting ;  but  at  some  hundreds  of  miles 
distance  green  sand  is  to  be  seen,  rich  in  fossils,  scaphites,  &c.,  three 
times  the  size  of  ours.  In  Minnesota,  about  seventeen  hundred 
miles  from  hence  (south-west  of  Lake  Superior),  exists  a  tract  one 
hundred  miles  in  extent,  called  by  the  Indians,  Maavaise  Terre — 
'The  bad  country,' — and  well  does  it  merit  that  appellation.  It 
consists  of  clay  mountains,  placed  side  by  side  like  huge  ant-hills, 
wholly  bare  of  vegetation — not  from  infertility,  but  because  their 
component  parts  are  so  little  coherent,  that  rain  and  torrents  wash 
them  clean  of  verdure,  whenever  it  makes  its  appearance  during  a 
spell  of  dry  weather.  Fine  specimens  of  animal  remains — tortoises, 
turtles,  &c.,  are  found  at  the  base  of  these  clay  hills.  The  curator 
of  the  Museum,  Mr.  Hubbard,  has  given  me  a  very  curious  recent 
fish  from  Lake  Charnplain,  deeply  interesting  as  the  only  lingering 
denizen  of  those  early  periods  of  the  world  when  fishes  wore  their 


128  THE    SLAVE    PROBLEM. 

bones  externally  instead  of  internally.  This  creature  looks  like  an 
antediluvian,  with  his  enamelled  exterior  and  his  bony  tail.  I  think 
he  must  have  been  a  hard  morsel,  even  for  the  digestion  of  an  ich 
thyosaurus.  He  is  called  here  the  gar  alligator.  Mr.  Hurst,  one  of 
the  naturalists  belonging  to  this  Museum,  has  invented  a  beautiful 
manner  of  preserving  fish,  reptiles,  &c.,  so  as  to  make  spirits  unne 
cessary,  and  greatly  to  facilitate  the  examination  of  them.  But  so 
much  arsenic  is  requisite  for  the  process,  that  his  hands  are  excori 
ated,  while  his  complexion  is  improved  by  its  poisonous  fumes.  The 
Governor  has  kindly  given  me  a  trout,  which  is  an  admirable  speci 
men  of  this  ingenious  mode  of  preparation. 

Nov.  11. — For  once,  I  enjoy  a  pouring  wet  day,  as  it  gives  me 
time  to  arrange  a  chaos  of  seeds,  plants,  shells,  and  stones,  which  I 
have  collected  during  my  rapid  western  tour,  and  to  look  over  the 
fine  Hortus  Siccus,  arranged  by  Dr.  Torrey,  in  fifty  volumes,  for  the 
Museum.  As  it  is  of  course  confined  to  the  flora  of  New  York,  I 
have  many  specimens  not  included  ;  but  it  enables  me  to  determine 
some  which  have  embarrassed  me.  I  saw  an  alligator  alive,  and 
some  curious  little  turtles  and  tortoises ;  the  latter  are  common  here 
abouts,  and  I  am  promised  a  pet,  in  the  shape  of  a  small  tortoise 
which  has  the  faculty  of  shutting  itself  up  like  a  box  :  it  is  a  vege 
tarian,  quite  gentle,  hardy,  and  long  lived.  If  my  favourite  puss 
does  not  take  umbrage  at  him,  he  will  be  a  clean,  innocent,  happy 
favourite.  The  snapping  tortoise  is  larger,  and  quite  a  savage  beast. 
There  was  a  live  snake  in  a  box,  but  I  declined  his  acquaintance.  I 
was  surprised  to  see  the  wild  turkey  so  much  larger  than  the 
domesticated  ;  his  plumage,  too,  is  finer — almost  resembling  that  of 
a  peacock. 

I  begin  to  feel  quite  excited  by  tbe  ups  and  downs  of  the  State 
election ;  for  though  all  the  votes  were  taken  in  one  day  (the  7th), 
the  various  towns  and  districts  send  their  numbers  dribblino-  in,  so 

O  ' 

that  though  Governor  Seymour  has  never  been  without  a  general 
majority,  yet  the  whole  is  extremely  fluctuating ;  and  as  yet  his  fate 
remains  undecided.  I  had  a  long  talk  with  him  about  the  Slavery 
question,  and  was  much  impressed  by  his  calm  and  statesmanlike 


SLAVERY.  129 

views :   he  is  as  desirous  as  any  man  can  be,  to  see  slavery  abol 
ished  ;  but  he  sensibly  says,  that,  like  most  other  things  in  connex 
ion  with  the  general  welfare,  it  is  to  be  considered  with  reference  to 
political  economy  ;  and  that  in  our  enthusiastic  headlong  anxiety  to 
do  justice  to  the  black  race,  we  have  surely  (though  quite  uninten 
tionally)  delayed  its  freedom.     This  is,  I  believe,  the  opinion  of  Dr. 
Howe,  and  other  enlightened  philanthropists.    Twenty-six  years  ago 
New  York  was  a  Slave  State.     How  has  the  curse  been  shaken  off? 
Not  by  stringent  laws  and  ill-judged  prohibitions,  but  by  the  intro 
duction  of  free  labour,  which  rendered  that  of  bondage  expensive 
and  inconvenient — though  it  does  not  improve  the  condition.      The 
wisest  people  say,  that  Slavery  was  on  the  point  of  extinguishing 
itself  in  the  South,  when,  by  rendering  the  supply  piratical,  the 
value  of  the  article  was  so  raised  in  the  market,  that  it  became  a 
profitable  concern  to  grow  slaves.     As  Governor  Seymour  graphi 
cally  explains  the  matter : — *  If  the  early  settler  wanted  to  buy  beef, 
he  must  buy  the  whole  ox — hide,  horns,  and  tail ;  then  comes  a 
time  when  he  can  procure  a  quarter;  and  at  last,  as  population 
increases,  he  can  go  to  market  and  purchase  a  beef-steak,  or  any 
joint  most  pleasing  to  his  taste.     Now  the  same  thing  occurs  in  the 
case  of  labour,  which,  after  all,  is  a  marketable  commodity.     At  first 
it  may  be  necessary  to  take  the  whole  man  ;  then  you  can  hire  part 
of  a  man  ;  and  in  due  time  you  may  be  able  to  get  so  much  of  the 
time  of  a  man  as  may  just  suit  your  purpose,  without  being  bur- 
thened  by  his  infancy  or  his  old  age.'    Thus  we,  who  have  been  seek 
ing  to  check  the  institution  of  Slavery  by  violent  means,  have  unin 
tentionally  been  prolonging  it ;  but  time  will  repair  this  mistake,  by 
rendering  the  possession  of  slaves  an  expensive  mode  of  cultivation 
— that  is,  if  cotton  can  be  cultivated  without  it.     Slavery  existed 
and  does  exist  in  Africa,  and  in  a  more  suffering  and  degraded  form 
than  that  of  the  West  Indies,  or  of  the  American  Southern  States. 
The  slaves  benefited  by  their  change  of  servitude ;  that  was  a  first 
step  towards  ultimate  freedom  ;  and  if,  when  a  sufficient  number  had 
been  imported,  their  labour  had  been  naturally  rendered  of  less 
value  by  the  introduction  of  others,  Slavery  would  quickly  have 
7 


1,30  THE    AMERICAN    CLERGY. 

abolished  itself;  but  anti-slavery  laws  checked  the  natural  course  of 
Providence ;  slave-labour  increased,  and  the  chain  of  the  African  was 
riveted  by  his  intended  emancipator.  Another  practical  exemplifica 
tion  of  an  'ill-judging  friend  being  worse  than  an  enemy.' 

We  dined  out  to-day — a  pleasant  dinner ;  the  only  peculiarity 
•was  the  name  of  each  intended  occupant  being  placed  on  the  table 
opposite  every  chair.  •  Codfish  appears  to  me  more  delicate  here 
than  upon  our  coasts ;  but  in  general  I  do  not  think  American  fish 
equal  those  of  the  English  shores.  I  have  now  tasted  white  fish, 
black  fish,  masquelongi,  and  salmon.  The  masquelongi  is  a  fresh 
water  fish,  plentiful  in  the  Rice  Lake.  It  appears  to  me  a  superior 
kind  of  pike. 

Sunday,  Nov.  12. — We  went  to  the  church  still  served  by  Dr. 
Potter,  the  new  Bishop  of  New  York,  who  does  not  give  up  his 
duty  till  after  his  consecration.  He  is  a  kind  and  agreeable,  as  well 
as  a  good  man  ;  and  I  never  heard  our  service  with  greater  plea 
sure  :  it  was  so  admirably  arranged  and  read  here,  that  I  could  not 
help  contrasting  it  with  the  church  at  Toronto,  where  the  service 
was  conducted  in  a  heavy,  tedious  way.  Election  returns  still  incom 
plete  ;  the  majority  supposed  to  be  for  the  present  Governor;  but 
no  one  can  give  certain  information. 

Albany,  November  13. — One  circumstance  is  to  be  observed  of 
the  American  Episcopalian  clergymen,  and,  as  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  remark,  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  Presbyterian, — 
that  they  all  read  well,  without  the  nasal  tone  or  the  peculiar  pro 
nunciation  of  the  North-eastern  States.  It  is  a  pity  that  civilians, 
especially  diplomatic  men,  do  not  imitate  their  clergy  in  this  matter. 
I  think  the  latter,  as  a  body,  superior  to  ours.  Among  those  whose 
churches  I  have  attended,  two  ministers,  educated  and  ordained  upon 
our  side  the  Atlantic,  both  good  men,  were  pompous  and  tedious  in 
the  reading-desk  and  pulpit.  And  we  must  confess  that  not  many 
in  England  either  read  or  preach  in  an  attractive  manner.  On  Sat 
urday,  the  Governor  took  me  to  see  an  excellent  Penitentiary  belong 
ing  to  this  district,  The  house  has  been  lately  built  after  the  plan 
of  the  superintendent,  Mr.  Pillsbury,  a  man  who  possesses  the  quali- 


THE    PENITENTIARY. 


131 


ties  of  firmness,  order,  and  benevolence  in  a  high  degree.     The  cells 
are  arranged  in  a  way  differing  from  what  I  have  hitherto  seen.     An 
oblong  block  of  three  or  four  storeys  (the  upper  ones  reached  by  ex 
terior  staircases  and  galleries,  capable  of  accommodating  185  people) 
is  placed  within  a  large  kind  of  hall  admirably  ventilated  ;  every  cell 
has  an  iron  bedstead,  and  those  of  the  women  a  chair.     The  large 
door  of  iron  grating  which  closes  each,  is  so  constructed  as  to  admit 
sufficient  light  and  air.     All  are  shut  by  the  same  mechanical  pro 
cess,  managed  by  an  iron  bar,  which  runs  the  whole  length  of  the 
block,  and  even  if  any  one  is  by  accident  left   unlocked,  the  door 
cannot  be  opened.  About  three  hundred  prisoners,  male  and  female, 
are  now  confined  here— all  for  short  terms:  those  under  long  con 
victions  are  taken  to  other  prisons.      These  people  are  sentenced  for 
a  period  of  about  three  months;    many  of  them  for  a  shorter  time. 
We  found  the  men  at  work   in  two    large    workshops,    one  en 
tirely  devoted  to  making  cane-bottomed  chairs,  the  other  harness. 
All  were  busily  engaged ;  not  one  lifted  an  eye  or  spoke  a  word.  In 
the  women's  ward,  there  was  more  variety  of  employment ;  washing, 
ironing,  mending,    and  cooking— but  no  speaking.     One  haggard 
looking  crone  of  more  than  eighty  years  of  age,  here  for  the  fourth 
time,   looked  the  personification  of  incorrigibility.      Some  few  men 
were  at  work  in  the  grounds,  which  having  to  be  newly  laid  out, 
afford  much  promise  of  occupation  ;  and  it  has  sometimes  happened 
that  emancipated  prisoners  have  entreated  for  employment  there. 
Mr.  Pillsbury's  success  appears  to  be  owing  to  his  unflinching  will 
and  determined  discipline;  to  the  strict  enforcement  of  cleanliness, 
and,  above  all,  to  the  influence  of  love  which  this  kind  man  brings 
to  bear  upon  his  prisoners,  for  his  heart  seems  to  be  of  the  most  ten 
der  mould.     Yet  I  could  wish  that  the  tongues  of  these  unfortunate 
ones  might  be  a  little  loosed,  just  so  much  as  is  allowed  by  the 
Governor  of  the  gaol  at  Munich  without  being  followed  by  evil  conse 
quences.     There,  the  prisoners  are  permitted  to  speak  on  matters  con 
nected  with  their  labour,  but  if  that  liberty  is  abused,  they  are  made  to 
work  alone.     Upon  the  entrance  of  a  prisoner  here,  he  is  told  he 
must  be  industrious,  never  look  up  from  his  work,  and  keep  silence; 


132  INDIAN    THANKSGIVING. 

and  that  if  he  conforms  to  these  rules,  he  will  be  well  fed  and  kindly 
treated ;  he  usually  conforms  immediately.  The  house  has  been 
erected,  and  all  expenses  of  the  establishment  are  defrayed,  by  the 
profits  which  accrue  from  the  prisoners'  labour. 

Near  Utica  there  has  long  been  a  white  rock  held  as  a  sacred 
stone  by  the  Indians.  This  veneration  was  owing  to  its  being  a  kind 
of  sienite  unique  in  the  district.  As  its  situation  was  near  a  spot 
lately  formed  into  a  cemetery,  Mr.  Seymour  proposed  that  this  stone 
should  be  removed  there  to  save  it  from  destruction,  and  to  show 
sympathy  for  Indian  feelings.  An  agreement  with  them  was  made 
for  that  purpose;  they  also  being  allowed  the  liberty  of  interment  in 
the  grounds ;  and  the  stone  may  be  seen  now  on  a  mound  at  the 
cemetery. 

After  the  election  of  the  present  Governor,  a  chief  came  to  Albany, 
to  prefer  some  request  to  him.  Being  an  Oneidan,  he  spoke  of  his 
tribe.  Mr.  Seymour  kindly  replying,  said — 'I  also  am  an  Oneidan, 
for  my  residence  is  at  Utica.'  The  Indians  designated  the  local 
Governors  as  their  *  Father,'  and  the  President  as  their  '  Great  Father.' 
But  upon  Mr.  Seymour  making  this  remark,  the  Chief  quickly  and 
gracefully  changed  the  term  of  relationship.  '  My  BROTHER  then  is 
an  Oneidan  ;  he  will  feel  for  the  wants  of  his  Brethren.'  Although 
the  Indians  may  speak  and  understand  English,  and  when  not  con 
ducting  a  diplomatic  interview  will  converse  in  our  language,  yet  in 
formal  intercourse  with  the  Governors  or  Governments,  they  will 
only  carry  it  on  through  an  interpreter,  bearing  in  mind  the  view  of 
preserving  their  dignity  and  nationality.  I  believe  they  are  now 
very  kindly  and  considerately  treated  by  the  United  States.  Their 
religion  is  a  pure  Theism  ;  and  some  of  those  we  call  the  Pagan  In 
dians  are,  alas !  superior  in  Christian  conduct  to  the  converted  ;  for 
the  latter  practise  the  vices  of  cheating  and  drunkenness,  while  the 
former  are  simple,  pure,  and  sober,  until  contaminated  by  the  white 
man.  They  believe  in  a  great  creating,  superintending  Spirit,  who 
rewards  the  good  and  punishes  the  evil  in  a  future  life ;  and  they 
have  public  meetings  for  prayer  and  thanksgiving.  One  is  called  the 
'  Feast  of  Strawberries,'  when  they  assemble  to  offer  up  thanks  to  the 


ORIGIN    OF    PARTY    NAMES.  133 

Great  Giver  of  all  good  for  the  returning  crop  of  that  berry ;  and 
there  are  other  periods  of  general  thanksgiving  for  a  sufficiency  of 
game  and  for  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  Thus  they  acknowledge  the 
unity,  omnipresence,  and  omniscience  of  the  Deity;  the  freewill, 
responsibility,  and  immortality  of  man  ;  and  these  truths  being  known 
and  assented  to  by  the  American  Indians,  Christianity  is  received  and 
accepted  by  them  without  much  difficulty,  as  a  further  dispensation 
and  message  from  the  Universal  Father. 

From  the  Governor  of  New  York  I  have  inquired  and  learned 
the  meaning  of  party  terms  which  have  before  puzzled  me — such 
as  Adamantines,  Hard-shells,  Soft-shells,  Loco-focos,  Rick-burners,  and 
Pollywogs.  It  seems  these  names  are  highly  figurative — they  have 
originated  in  casual  expressions  made  use  of  by  public  speakers 
which  have  happened  to  hit  the  fancy  of  the  hearers,  so  that  they 
become  cant  terms.  A  Democrat  in  this  country  is  synonymous 
with  a  Whig  or  Liberal  in  England,  while  he  who  is  denominated 
Whig  here,  is  really  a  Tory  or  Conservative.  The  latter  party  ad 
vocate  prohibitions,  and  tariffs,  and  interference  of  the  Central 
Government  with  local  improvements;  while  the  Democrats  are 
free-traders,  and  promoters  of  self-government  in  each  State.  They 
say  that  railroads,  and  harbours,  and  bridges,  and  canals,  can  be 
formed  and  conducted  at  less  expense  and  more  advantageously  on 
the  spot,  than  when  planned  and  directed  by  the  Central  Govern 
ment  from  a  distance  of  many  hundred  miles,  where  they  are  apt  to 
degenerate  into  jobs.  Upon  some  occasion,  when  the  moderate 
Democrats  were  accused  of  yielding  rather  too  much  to  the  views  of 
their  opponents,  a  wag,  during  his  address  to  a  popular  assembly, 
said :  '  Now  I  think  these  politicians  are  blowing  hot  and  cold  ;  they 
are  too  much  like  crabs  when  in  a  state  of  transition  between  the 
soft  and  the  hard  shell.  I  am  for  the  whole  hog — I  am  a  Hard 
shell.'  And  another  said,  '  They  are  Pollywogs'  (the  Indian  name 
for  tadpoles).  So  with  the  Loco-focos,  of  which  party  the  Barn 
burners  were  an  extreme.  Now  I  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
following  curious  paragraph  in  one  of  the  local  papers  some  weeks 
ago  :  '  The  organ  of  the  Hard-shell  Democrats  says  that  orders  have 


134  ALBANY. 

been  sent  from  Washington,  enjoining-  all  persons  holding  office 
under  the  Central  Government  to  keep  away  from  the  approaching 
Soft-shell  Convention  at  Syracuse ;  for  this  reason  it  is  anticipated 
the  Barn-burners  will  have  control  of  the  convention,  and  pass  anti- 
Nebraska  resolutions.'  The  peculiar  circumstances  which  gave  origin 
to  the  Loco-foco  and  Barn-burner,  are  these ;  during  an  assemblage 
of  Democrats,  some  who  wished  to  disperse  the  meeting  obtained 
command  of  the  gas-pipes,  with  an  intention  of  throwing  darkness 
over  the  deliberations  of  the  said  '  convention  ; '  but  the  Hard-shells, 
getting  a  hint  of  this  plot,  provided  themselves  with  lucifer-matches 
and  candles,  and  when  the  gas  went  out  suddenly,  they  soon  re- 
illuminated  their  proceedings.  Hence  they  were  called  Loco-focos ; 
and  an  ultra  Loco-foco  was  taunted  with  the  sobriquet  of  Barn 
burner. 

We  dined  yesterday  at  a  very  pretty  and  well-arranged  house, 
belonging  to  Mr.  and  Mrs,  Pompelly — an  Italian  name,  which  has 
been  spoiled  by  the  substitution  of  an  English  termination.  The 
dinner  was  much  like  one  in  London,  except  that  the  hour  was  six 
instead  of  eight.  I  sat  by  an  American  Major-General,  who  has 
travelled  much  in  Europe.  From  his  countenance  and  manner,  I 
should  have  supposed  him  Bavarian  ;  but  this  city  contains  a  great 
mixture  of  the  varying  national  characteristics  of  Europe.  In  one 
quarter  Germans  are  so  numerous,  that  the  signs  and  designations 
of  the  shops  and  eating-houses  are  in  German.  Many  also  of  the 
respectable  inhabitants  there  still  speak  Dutch ;  French  is  less  com 
mon,  but  the  American,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  English  blood  is  mixed 
up  in  tolerably  equal  proportions,  and  in  a  short  time  all  these 
heterogeneous  elements  will  be  happily  amalgamated. 

To-day  I  went  to  visit  the  library — a  handsome  and  convenient 
building,  well  supplied  with  valuable  and  useful  books ;  and  after 
wards  the  Governor  introduced  me  to  the  studio  of  Palmer — a 
sculptor  of  evident  taste  and  talent,  who  has  hitherto  depended  upon 
the  inspiration  of  his  own  mind,  rather  than  upon  the  study  of  ancient 
art.  Near  a  spot  chiefly  inhabited  by  Dutch  settlers,  I  endeavoured 
to  make  a  sketch  of  Albany,  with  the  distant  mountains,  and  an  ex- 


A    PATERNAL    GOVERNOR.  135 

tensive  view  of  the  Hudson  River ;  but  my  fingers  soon  became  so 
benumbed  by  cold,  that  I  had  not  much  success.  The  weather 
continues  very  like  winter  in  England,  but  no  decided  snow  here  at 
present. 

November  16. — Yesterday  was  nearly  all  passed  in  visiting,  to 
return  the  civility  of  those  who  have  called,  or  given  me  invitations 
I  entered  a  great  many  houses.  The  reception  rooms  are  generally 
on  the  ground  floor,  handsomely  fitted  up,  usually  covered  by  English 
or  French  carpets,  but  extremely  dark.  They  are  commonly  kept 
very  warm  by  stoves,  or  rather  furnaces,  below.  I  only  saw  one 
open  fireplace,  in  which  the  fuel  was  a  kind  of  anthracite  coal.  The 
houses  are  good,  almost  always  entered  by  a  single  flight  of  stone 
steps ;  from  three  to  four  rooms  on  a  floor,  but  these  rooms  have  a 
bare,  unhomelike  appearance  to  an  English  eye,  from  the  absence  of 
books,  and  work,  and  writing  .mate rials  ;  they  look  as  if  in  use  only 
for  company.  We  had  an  agreeable  small  dinner-party  at  home — 
the  Bishop  of  New  York;  Mr.  Hall,  the  palaeontologist,  and  his 
wife  ;  Mr.  Johnson,  a  judge ;  and  one  or  two  more.  It  is  believed 
that  the  re-election  of  the  present  Governor  is  secure.  I  rejoice  in 
this,  as  an  indication  that  good  common  sense,  after  all,  prevails  over 
an  ill-regulated  enthusiasm.  The  other  day,  a  young  man  received 
his  pardon  from  Mr.  Seymour,  after  a  short  imprisonment.  In  such 
a  case  he  usually  sees  the  offender  upon  his  liberation  ;  and  he  gave 
this  youth  some  friendly  advice  upon  the  danger  of  intemperate 
habits.  The  man  looked  surprised,  and  exclaimed:  'Why,  sir,  I 
had  been  told  you  were  all  for  liquor,  and  you  don't  look  like  one 
who  cares  for  it.'  '  Remember,'  was  the  reply,  '  that  no  human  law 
can  make  a  man  good.  He  must  learn  self-control,  and  be  actuated 
by  principle.  If  laws  would  have  prevented  you  from  getting  into 
mischief,  you  would  not  have  been  sent  to  prison.' 

One  day  is  annually  set  apart  by  the  custom  of  each  State  for  a 
general  thanksgiving.  Here  is  an  example  of  the  form  and  manner 
iu  which  this  is  done.  The  Governor  for  the  time  being  selects  a 
day,  and  then  issues  his  Proclamation,  which  is  published  in  all  the 
papers :  — 


136  PROCLAMATION. 

PROCLAMATION. 
BY  HORATIO  SEYMOUR,  GOVERNOR  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

An  acknowledgment  of  our  dependence  upon  God,  and  of  our  obligation 
to  Him,  is  at  all  times  the  duty  of  a  Christian  People.  But  when  the  Al 
mighty  hns  again  crowned  the  year  with  his  goodness,  and  we  are  enjoy 
ing  the  gathered  fruits  of  His  bounty,  it  is  eminently  fitting  that  we  should 
offer  the  sacrifice  of  praise  and  thanksgiving. 

I  therefore  appoint  Thursday,  the  30th  day  of  November,  for  this  appro 
priate  service ;  and  invite  the  citizens  of  the  State  to  assemble  on  that  day 
in  their  respective  places  of  worship,  to  present  their  acknowledgments  to 
the  Parent  of  the  Universe  for  his  multiplied  mercies.  And  with  our 
thanksgiving  let  us  mingle  prayers  for  a  continuance  of  the  numberless 
blessings  we,  as  a  people,  enjoy,  remembering  that  His  wisdom  alone 
can  rightly  direct,  His  power  support,  and  His  goodness  give  strength  and 
security. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  subscribed  my  name  and  af- 
[L.  8.]     fixed  the  private  seal  of  the  State,  at  the  City  of  Albany,  this  10th 
day  of  November,  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and  Fifty-Four. 

HORATIO  SEYMOUR. 
By  the  Governor.     H.  W.  DE  Puy, 

Private  Secretary. 

In  driving  down  one  of  the  streets  here,  ray  attention  was  at 
tracted  by  the  Manx  Arms — the  three  legs — as  a  sign  over  a  tailor's 
shop.  I  was  sure  the  occupant  must  be  a  native  of  the  Tsle  of  Man, 
and  on  our  return  I  requested  to  stop  the  carriage,  that  I  might  ask 
a  question.  Upon  going  into  the  house  I  found  a  man  busily  em 
ployed  upon  a  coat.  *  You  are  a  Manxman,  I  am  certain  ? '  *  To  be 
sure  I  am,'  was  the  answer ;  *  but  who  are  you  ? '  The  tailor  and 
the  tailor's  wife  and  daughter  were  delighted  to  hear  the  name  of 
Murray,  and  to  find  I  had  been  at  Jurby,  about  four  miles  from 
Bishop's  Court,  where  the  man  was  born  :  he  has  been  nineteen 
years  in  America ;  he  says  he  has  got  on  pretty  well,  but  that  he 
works  harder  than  he  did  at  home,  I  was  invited  to  tea,  and 
though  I  could  not  accept  the  invitation,  it  gave  me  pleasure  to  see 
that  my  visit  was  fully  appreciated.  I  have  made  a  sketch  of  Bish 
op's  Court,  for  this  my  friend,  (Mr.  Crow,)  from  memory ;  and  as  he 


YOUTHFUL   HEROISM.  137 

maintains  it  to  be  the  most  beautiful  place  in  the  world,  I  think  the 
remembrance  will  be  valued. 

Albany,  November  17. — Mr.  Seymour  and  his  opponent  are 
still  running  neck  to  neck,  although  we  have  several  times  supposed 
the  affair  settled  ;  this  election  has  been  more  fluctuating  and  longer 
about  than  any  I  ever  heard  of,  not  entirely  owing  to  the  great  ex 
tent  of  territory  concerned — for  all  the  votes  were  taken  at  the 
different  places  in  one  day ;  but  they  have  been  very  long  coming 
in  here.  At  New  York,  and  I  think  I  may  say  in  all  the  enlightened 
cities,  Seymour  has  an  overwhelming  majority,  but  the  distant  coun 
ties  and  towns  vote  for  Myron  Clark,  and  it  is  now  believed  they 
will  elect  him  by  a  trifling  majority.  The  numbers  to-day  are 
132,264  for  Seymour — 131,111  for  Clark;  there  are,  however, 
a  few  more  returns  to  come  in,  which  may  be  in  favour  of  the 
latter. 

November  18. — We  spent  yesterday  evening  quietly,  drinking 

tea  with  Mrs.  S 's  sister,  who  lives  nearly  opposite :  her  interest 

and  excitement  at  the  present  moment  are  naturally  great,  as  a 
change  of  Governors  will  separate  this  family.  Our  weather  to-day 
promises  to  be  clear  and  fine ;  we  have  had  hardly  anything  but 
gloomy,  wet,  cold  days  since  I  arrived  here  ten  days  ago.  Perhaps 
we  shall  go  to  New  York  this  afternoon.  I  have  heard  of  the  ar 
rival  of  my  Virginian  friend,  Miss  G ,  from  England,  and  I  hope 

to  meet  her  there.  A  mere  child,  named  Eli  Rheem,  has  performed 
an  act  of  heroism  worthy  of  more  years  and  of  noblest  times.  I 
have  cut  the  details  out  of  a  trustworthy  print — for  this  deed  de 
serves  to  be  celebrated  as  evincing  a  courage  which  throws  that  of 
warriors  into  the  shade. 

A  NOBLE  BOY. 

RESCUE  OF  A  PASSENGER  TRAIN  FROM  CERTAIN  DESTRUCTION. 

We  mentioned  a  few  days  since  the  burning  of  the  Tunnel  Bridge,  on 
the  Baltimore  and  Susquehanna  Railroad,  about  five  miles  south  of  York, 
and  since  learn  that  the  conflagration  came  very  near  being  followed  by 
7* 


J38 


A    NOBLE    I30V. 


one  of  the  most  terrible  disasters  that  has  lately  occurred  in  railroad  travel. 
It  is  supposed  that  the  bridge  took  fire  from  the  freight  trains  which  passed 
about  half-past  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  structure  was  totally 
enveloped  in  flames  before  it  was  discovered  by  the  residents  in  the  vi 
cinity.     At  about  nine  o'clock  the  frame-work  of  the  bridge  fell  through, 
and  among  the  spectators,  some  twenty  in  number,  was  a  little  boy  about 
twelve  years  of  age,  named  Eli  Rheem,  who,  remembering  that  the  express 
train  was  then  about  due  from  York,  started  off  at  the  top  of  his  speed  to 
endeavour  to  stop  the  train,  which  he  knew  must  be  close  at  hand.     As 
soon  as  he  reached  the  curve,  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  bridge, 
he  observed  the  train  coming  at  full  speed,  and  fearing  that  he  would  "be 
unable  to  stop  them  unless  by  the  use  of  extraordinary  means,  the  noble 
little  fellow  took  his  position  on  the  track,  and  running  towards  the  ap 
proaching  train  with  his  hands  raised,  caught  the  attention  of  the  engineer, 
who  immediately  reversed  his  engine,  and  stopped  within  four  hundred 
yards  of  impending  destruction,  the  piers  being  some  twenty  feet  from  the 
rocky  bed  below,  and  the  gap  some  sixty  feet  wide.     Had  the  boy  not 
placed  himself  on  the  track,  he  would  doubtless  have  failed  in  his  noble 
effort,  as  the  engineers  are  so  often   cheated  by  mischievous  boys  on  the 
route  that  they  seldom  pay  any  attention  to  them.     Even  when  he  stopped, 
he  thought  he  had  been  cheated  by  a  youngster  with  more  daring  than 
his  associates,  and  was  surprised  to  see  the  little  flaxen-headed  fellow  stand 
his  ground,  and  endeavouring  to  recover  his  lost  breath,  to  answer  his 
questions  as  to  the  cause  of  his  interruption.     We  learn  that  the  passengers, 
when  they  ascertained  the  cause  of  the  stoppage  of  the  train,  and  viewed 
the  precipice  over  which  they  were  near  being  dashed,  liberally  rewarded 
the  boy  for  his  presence  of  mind  and  daring,  and  that  the  Board  of  Direc 
tors,  at  their  meeting  yesterday,  appropriated  100  dollars  as  an  additional 
recompense.     Eli  Rheem,  a  boy  but  twelve  years  of  age,  was  the  only  one 
of  twenty  persons  present,  most  of  them  men,  who  had  forethought  sufficient 
for  the  occasion. — Bait.  American. 

The  name  of  Rheem  leads  one  to  suppose  that  this  gallant  little 
fellow  must  be  of  Dutch  origin  ;  I  shall  be  glad  if  England  can 
claim  the  originating  of  his  parentage.  Alas  !  for  the  horrors  of 
war  contrasting  with  the  peaceful  triumph  of  this  child  !  Our  brave 
soldiers  sacrificed,  to  sacrifice  those  who  under  different  circum 
stances  they  would  die  to  save  !  I  dread  looking  at  the  English 
news.  Every  mail  now  brings  sorrowful  intelligence  of  the  fall  of 
some  young  man  who,  if  not  a  relative  of  my  own,  is  the  darling  of 


COMMUNITY    OF    SHAKERS.  189 

some  house  and  home  for  which  I  feel  an  interest.     What  does  not 
that  Russian  deserve  ?     I  trust  he  will  some  clay  be  shut  up  as  a 
madman,  unfit  to  be  trusted  with   a  knife  ;  and  then  perhaps  his 
wretched  serfs  may  learn  that  Christianity  does  not  teach  them  war. 
To-day  the  Governor  and  Mrs.  Seymour  took  me  to  see  a  community 
of  Shakers,  who  live  about  ten  miles  from  this  place  ;   they  appear 
to  be  a  harmless  industrious  set  of  people,  a  kind  of  Quaker  Order 
of  Monks   and   Nuns,  who   feed   well,  set  a   good  example  as  to 
morality  and  neatness,  and  eschew  as  a  crime  everything  approach 
ing  to  beauty  and  eleganee.     We  had  some  excellent  bread  and 
cheese,  saw  them  make  their  useful  brooms,  and  bought  some  of 
their  delicate  baskets,  in  the  manufacture  of  which  the  line  of  beauty 
has   unconsciously  introduced  itself.     Kind  Brother  Frederick,  the 
ruler  of  the  establishment,  showed  us  all  over  it.     A  Shaker  village 
has  one  great  advantage  over  all  monastic  communities — no  vows 
are  imposed,  and  the  freedom  of  egress  is  perfectly  unshackled.    We 
drove  through  a  high  sandy  district,  with  scattered  woods  of  birch 
and  yellow  pine,  the  ground  diversified  by  low  hills,  with  extensive 
views  of  distant   mountains  and  the   Hudson  River.     In  passing 
through  Albany,  I  was  shown  some  old  Dutch  houses,  constructed 
of  bricks  which  were  actually  brought  here  from  Holland !     Now, 
the  great  majority  of  buildings  are  of  brick  made  on  the  spot.     In 
this  neighbourhood  the  usual  snake  fences,  made  with  as  large  a 
quantity  of  timber  as  can  be  put  into  them,  about  six  feet  high,  are 
beginning  to  be  rare  :  the  divisions  consist  of  fences  straight  and 
regular  ;  once  it  was  considered  a  beauty  to  have  as  many  fences  as 
possible,  now  a  contrary  opinion  prevails  hereabouts.     In  new  clear 
ings,  glaring  white  houses,  with  green  or  red  blinds  are  still  con 
sidered  the  best  taste — naturally  enough  ;  for  in  the  dark  forest  they 
were  more  visible,  and  spoke  of  comfort  and  civilization  :  now  some 
taste  for  architecture  is  springing  up  in  cities  and  their  environs. 
Mr.  Seymour   drove   me   in   a   light   open   carriage,  'universal   in 
America :  it  has  wheels  exceedingly  high  in  proportion  to  the  size 
of  the  body.     These  '  wagons '  are   certainly  airy  and  slight,  and 
consequently  plunge  into  the  hollows  and  holes  of  the  tracks  with- 


140  THE    LET1EK    OF    THE    LAW. 

out  risk.     We  had  a  bright  sun,  and  as  the  wind  was  quiet  I  did 
not  mind  cold  ;  but  it  was  very  cold. 

November  1 9 — Sunday. —  I  believe  that  my  journey  to  New 
York  is  likely  to  be  delayed  yet  for  days.  Some  gentlemen  who 
came  in  last  night,  say  that  the  voting  is  so  close,  that  although 
State  officers  are  now  busy  in  investigation,  it  will  require  another 
week  before  the  result  can  be  declared  ;  and  even  then  the  present 
Governor,  if  he  should  lose,  would  really  have  a  majority;  because 
a  large  number  of  votes  have  been  given  with  the  initial  H.,  instead 
of  Horatio,  which  invalidates  them.  The  Shakers,  too,  wish  for 
him ;  but  the  silly  people  consider  it  against  their  principles  to  make 
use  of  their  votes.  I  wonder  whether  you  in  England  will  feel  any 
interest  in  this  election  for  my  American  friend ;  or  whether  you 
will  be  vexed  that  so  many  pages  of  my  paper  are  devoted  to  New 
York  politics.  This  packet  will  probably  be  sent  off  before  the 
knotty  point  is  made  straight,  so  either  way  you  will  not  get  the 
conclusion  until  another  mail.  Though  interested,  my  mind  is  not 
at  all  decided  as  to  whether  I  really  wish  the  present  Governor  to 
be  in  for  another  year  or  not.  I  should  not  like  him  to  be  beat. 
Yet  I  think  the  good  effects  of  his  rule  will  tell  upon  his  successor, 
who,  I  understand,  is  ^nuch  his  inferior  in  education  and  talent ;  and 
rest  will  be  good  for  my  friend,  while  he  and  Mrs.  Seymour  will  be 
more  at  liberty  to  make  our  proposed  forest  excursions  next  year. 
I  shall  remain  until  the  matter  is  settled  ;  for  as  they  kindly  wish 
to  be  my  guides  in  New  York,  should  we  go  there  whilst  the  de 
cision  is  pending,  Mr.  Seymour's  visit  there  will  be  ascribed  to  poli 
tical  motives,  which  would  be  unpleasant  to  him. 

After  the  service  this  morning,  the  Bishop-elect  of  New  York 
baptized  two  children,  one  about  four,  the  other  rather  more  than  a 
year  old ;  the  ceremony  took  place  at  the  Communion-rail  under 
the  pulpit — :the  water  being  blessed  on  the  reading-desk.  The 
father  and  mother  with  their  eldest  child,  alone  stood  and  knelt  at 
the  rail ;  the  other  attendants  remained  in  pews.  I  like  the  custom 
of  allowing  parents  to  be  sponsors  for  their  own  children.  The 
service  was  much  the  same  as  ours.  But  as  after  being  baptized, 


PROBABILITIES.  141 

the  youngest  child  was  inclined  to  be  loquacious,  he  was  at  once 
taken  out  of  the  church  by  the  person  who  carried  him  in  her 
arms.  I  observed  no  particular  smartness  of  dress  on  this  occasion, 
either  for  the  children  or  their  attendants. 

The  Governor  has  just  proposed  that  Mrs.  Seymour  and  I  shall 
go  together  to  New  York  to-morrow  ;  and  if  business  permits,  he 
will  follow  in  the  course  of  a  day  or  two.  So  we  shall  start  by  the 
eleven  o'clock  train,  and  go  to  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel.  I  shall 
probably  not  extend  my  stay  at  New  York  much  beyond  a  week ; 
and  letters  in  future  must  be  addressed  to  the  care  of  Mr.  Crampton, 
our  minister  at  Washington.  He  is  the  most  likely  person  to  know 
my  whereabouts ;  and  he  will  I  daresay  forward  communications 
from  home  during  the  winter,  or  as  long  as  I  remain  in  the  Southern 

States. 

Your  affectionate 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER   XIII. 


E  W     Y  O  R  K  . 


NEW  YORK,  November  25, 1S54. 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

After  travelling  2685  miles,  here  we  are  at  New  York. 
Since  our  arrival,  on  the  19th,  I  have  not  had  time  to  write  more 
than  a  few  lines,  which  went  by  yesterday's  mail  to  my  nieces.  I 
had  a  pleasant  journey  by  rail  down  the  beautiful  Hudson  ;  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  way  the  line  actually  runs  through  the  water  ;  as 
between  the  range  of  the  Catskills  on  one  side,  and  the  rocky  shore 
on  the  other,  it  was  much  easier  to  form  a  road  on  piles,  where  the 
water  is  not  very  deep,  than  to  tunnel  and  batter  a  course  for  the 
trains  through  the  rocks :  at  one  spot  where  we  did  go  through 
them,  a  red  flag  brought  us  up  for  a  few  minutes,  owing  to  some  of 
the  boundary  having  fallen  in  the  night.  Mrs.  Seymour,  her  niece, 
and  some  gentlemen,  accompanied  me  from  Albany  :  the  Governor 
has  now  arrived  also,  but  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  come  down  on 
Monday.  This  Hotel  of  St.  Nicholas  is  quite  a  palace  ;  its  only 
fault  being  that  the  gorgeous  silk  furniture,  mirrors,  and  carpets  are 
rather  in  the  extreme  of  magnificence ;  however,  the  rooms  are  com 
fortable.  I  have  a  hot  and  cold  bath  attached  to  my  bedroom ;  and 
as  I  happened  to  be  rather  ill  yesterday  (for  the  first  time  since  I 
crossed  the  Atlantic),  I  found  the  warm  bath  an  excellent  remedy, 


THE    BROADWAY. 


and  one  which,  if  it  had  not  been  so  conveniently  placed,  I  should 
probably  have  gone  without.      Tuesday  last  was  spent  in  shopping 
and  visits.    On  Wednesday  the  consecration  of  my  friend  Dr.  P    :er, 
the  new  Bishop  of  New  York,  took  place;  I  saw  much  of  him  at 
Albany,  still  as  yet  his  residence.     The  ceremony  was  one  of  much 
more  importance  than  that  upon  like  occasions  in  England.    Twelve 
bishops  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  clergy  attended,  besides  two 
hundred  students  of  divinity.     It  was  performed  in  a  pretty  new 
church  called  Trinity,  Early  Perpendicular  in  style;  all  the  windows 
edo-ed  and  surmounted  with  painted  glass,  which,  though  not  of  the 
mo&st  perfect  design  and  colouring,  is  still  far  better  than  common. 
The  music  was  good,  and  I  observed  no  great  difference  from  our 
consecration  service,  excepting  that  the  new  bishop  is  robed  in  front 
of  the  Communion-table,  a  custom  which  has  always  prevailed  in 
America,  but  which,  I  think,  detracted  from  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion.     In  the  evening  I  was  invited  to  meet  all  the  bishops  and 
a  large  number  of   the  clergy.     It  was  a  pleasant  party;  and] 
recognized  the  Bishop  of  Vermont,  who  received  me  with  kindness 
on  Lake  Champlain.    The  consecration  deed  of  Dr.  Potter,  designed 
and  beautifully  illuminated  by  a  young  lady,  was  on  a  table  ot 
medieval   appearance.     I  was  introduced  to  Bishop  Fulford,  who 
was  absent  during  my  visit  to  Montreal.    He  preached  in  the  morn 
ing.     Thursday,  Mr.  D ,  one  of  my  American  friends  on  board 

the  Canada,  took  me  to  see  many  places  in  the  city,  and  from  the 
steeple  summit  of  Trinity  Church  I  gained  a  good  idea  of 
York,  with  its  rivers,  islands,  and  environs;  the  ground  it  is  built 
upon  is  almost*  insular  -perhaps  three  or  four  miles  in  width, 
and  fourteen  in  length,  Broadway  nearly  dividing  it  in  half.  Ihis 
street  is  something  between  our  Strand  and  Oxford-street,  rathei 
wider  than  the  former,  quite  as  full  of  traffic  as  either ;  but  then  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  this  is  the  only  great  artery  of  New  York. 
We  drove  in  an  omnibus  through  Broadway  to  what  is  considered 
the  aristocratic  quarter-fop  it  must  be  remarked  that  people  here 
are  not  at  all  less  exclusive  than  in  London-only  the  differences 
rank  and  wealth  are  evinced  by  more  minute  and  elaborate  atten 


144  GREENWOOD    CEMETERY. 

tion  to  dress,  and  to  trifling  conventionalities,  than  with  us.  I  havs 
been  surprised  to  hear  some  men  of  business,  but  of  wealth,  assert 
that  cultivation  of  the  fine  arts  is  a  proof  of  national  effeminacy  f 
American  ladies  bestow  those  hours  of  leisure,  which  English  women 
of  the  same  class  give  to  drawing,  to  the  study  of  nature,  and  to 
mental  cultivation,  almost  wholly  on  personal  adornment.  Although 
it  must  be  admitted  that  owing  to  the  bad  training  of  their  servants, 
ladies  on  this  side  the  Atlantic  are  compelled  to  look  closely  into 
the  details  of  domestic  economy,  yet  it  is  odd  that  they  are  gener 
ally  far  less  competent  to  the  performance  of  every-day  and  sick 
room  duties  than  the  daughters  of  our  noblest  houses  in  Great 
Britain ;  and  so  long  as  girls  here  devote  a  whole  hour  for  every  ten 
minutes  allowed  by  us  to  the  toilet,  they  have  no  right  to  make 
domestic  affairs  an  excuse  for  want  of  general  information.  Of 
course  there  are  brilliant  exceptions  ;  but  I  fear  the  national  charac 
ter  of  women  in  the  United  States  more  resembles  that  of  self-in 
dulgent  Asiatics  than  of  energetic  Anglo-Saxons.  And,  as  far  as  I 
can  judge,  their  children  are  not  being  reared  in  better  habits. 
Human  nature  is  prone  to  extremes ;  and  these  facts  explain  why 
some  individuals  desirous  of  improvement  have  fallen  into  a  mis 
taken  imitation  of  manly  character  instead  of  cultivating  feminine 
duties.  Yesterday  we  dined  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bancroft,  at  their 
house  in  22nd-street.  Not  having  the  organ  of  '  Number,'  I  am 
rather  plagued  by  having  numeral  streets,  in  addition  to  the  custom 
ary  numbering  of  doors ;  and  8th  street  west  and  28th  street  east 
(No.  8,  perhaps),  make  a  terrible  hubbub  in  my  memory. — The 

23rd  of  November  was  a  very  wet  day,  and  I  did  not  go  out. 

Saturday,  November  25th,  Mrs.  Seymour  took  me  to  see  Greenwood 
Cemetery,  which  is  extensive,  and  beautifully  situated  on  the  heights 
of  Brooklyn.  But  the  general  appearance  of  this  place  is  injured 
by  a  custom  of  using  upright  white  stone  posts  as  boundaries  for 
the  several  family  burying-grounds.  I  have  remarked  this  at  all  the 
cemeteries,  excepting  those  of  Boston  and  Toronto.  Auburn  Ceme 
tery,  belonging  to  the  former  city,  is  much  the  most  agreeable  and 
soothing  place  of  interment,  from  its  quiet  and  unassuming,  as  well 


145 

as  picturesque  scenery.  Glare  and  grief  are  antagonistic,  and  intru 
sive  objects  should  not  meet  an  eye  still  dim  with  tears ;  each  spot 
of  ground  consecrated  to  family  affection  should  be  securely,  but 
almost  invisibly  guarded  from  intrusion.  Among  the  monuments  in 
New  York  Cemetery,  that  which  marks  the  burying-place  of  fire 
men  is  specially  interesting.  It  is  crowned  by  the  statue  of  a  noble 
spirit,  who  perished  in  his  endeavour  to  rescue  a  child.  In  one 
hand  he  holds  a  speaking-trumpet ;  his  other  arm  clasps  the  infant, 
as  with  a  firm,  but  apparently  hurried  step,  and  upturned  head,  he 
endeavours  to  reach  security  and  meets  death.  I  accompanied  a 
party  to  see  the  Governor  review  the  militia  regiments  of  New  York. 
These,  like  the  yeomanry  of  England,  are  volunteers ;  men  (even  in 
the  ranks)  of  property  and  consideration.  English,  French,  Dutch, 
Americans,  Irish,  Scotch,  banded  together  as  far  as  possible  accord 
ing  to  their  several  national  feelings  and  peculiarities,  but  each 
individual  merging  his  national  loyalty  in  one  common  enthusiasm 
for  the  protection  of  the  country  he  has  permanently  adopted ; — 
meet  upon  a  day  which  is  here  known  by  the  name  of  *  Evacuation 
Day,'  to  make  a  grand  demonstration  of  this  unity  of  sentiment ; 
and,  although  their  troops  were  not  so  compact  and  well-drilled  as 
regulars,  yet  as  a  body  of  five  or  six  thousand  men,  not  called  out 
for  more  than  three  days  in  a  year,  they  are  much  to  be  admired  ; 
and  one  regiment,  all  dressed  in  bluish  grey,  manoeuvred  with  great 
precision. 

I  did  not  feel  my  own  national  amour  propre  the  least  wounded 
upon  this  occasion.  We  may  now  rejoice  over  the  'evacuation' 
with  as  hearty  good  will  as  the  Americans  themselves,  and  at  the 
same  time  feel  a  rational  degree  of  pride  that  old  England  sent  forth, 
and  originally  nurtured,  such  promising  citizens  for  the  New  World. 
Although  the  Governor  of  New  York  is  Commander-in-chief,  and  a 
staff  of  officers  in  full  regimentals  surround  him,  he  wears  no  uniform, 
but  always  appears  the  civil  officer  of  the  State.  Mr.  Seymour  re 
viewed  these  troops  in  front  of  the  City  Hall,  with  as  much  tran 
quillity  of  manner  and  simple  dignity  as  might  have  been  evinced 
by  any  one  of  the  most  experienced  of  our  public  men.  It  is  im- 


140  REV.    H.    W.    BEECHEU. 

possible  to  find  more  entire  freedom  from  self-consciousness  in  any 
man,  while  the  claims  of  duty  and  of  kindness  are  never  put  out  of 
sight  or  omitted  by  him. 

On  Sunday  I  went  to  a  chapel  in  Brooklyn,  to  hear  the  brother 
of  Mrs.  Beecher  Stowe  preach  to  a  very  crowded  congregation.  His 
sermon  was  one  of  great  eloquence  and  originality;  in  style  am! 
manner  too  familiar  to  suit  English  ideas:  but  it  was  eminently 
practical,  and  so  much  of  truth  and  wisdom  was  to  be  culled  out). 
a  somewhat  rugged  and  informal  chain  of  argument,  that  no  eye 
slumbered  and  no  person's  attention  flagged  during  a  very  long 
discourse. 

November  27. — This  morning  I  breakfasted  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

B ,  to  meet  several  agreeable  people,  among  them  the  preacher, 

Mr.  H.  W.  Beecher.  I  liked  his  earnest,  powerful  mind ;  although 
upon  the  topics  of  slavery  and  prohibitory  laws,  I  doubted  his  argu 
ments.  In  the  afternoon,  the  Governor,  Mrs.  Seymour,  and  I  visited 
print-shops  and  galleries.  He  wished  much  to  see  Sir  Edwin  Land- 
seer's  picture  of  '  The  Twins,'  but  it  had  been  just  packed  up  and 
sent  off  to  Boston. 

November  28. — We  all  breakfasted  with  Miss  Lynch  the  poetess ; 
we  had  there  another  pleasant  party,  and  again  Mr.  Beecher,  whose 
discussions  with  the  Governor  upon  social  subjects  were  very  inter 
esting.  I  forgot  to  mention  the  opera  last  nighW-Grisi  and  Mario : 
the  latter  sang  to  perfection ;  Grisi  less  rich  and  powerful  in  tone 

than  I  remember  her  formerly,  but  still  wonderful.     Mr.  D 

took  me  to  visit  a  gentlemanly  and  intelligent  young  man,  by  trade 
a  coachmaker,  who  seems  to  have  travelled  and  observed  nature 
more  than  is  common  in  this  land  of  business ;  and  in  his  possession 
I  saw  one  of  those  curious  eyeless  fish  from  the  Mammoth  Cave  of 
Kentucky.  It  is  preserved  in  spirits,  about  the  size  and  somewhat 
of  the-form  of  a  fresh- water  perch,  about  five  inches  long.  I  thought 
there  was  a  faint  mark  on  the  spots  where  eyes  usually  are,  but 
nothing  more:  and  a  small  kind  of  crayfish  from  the  same  locality 
was  also  deficient  in  visual  organs.  I  shall  probably  go  to  that 
Cave,  when  I  may  procure  specimens ;  and  I  shall  try  to  get  one 


PHILANTHROPIC    INSTITUTIONS.  147 

preserved  without   spirits.     The  rest  of  my  day  was  taken  up  by 
necessary  social  visits ;  but  I  saw  various  parts  of  the  town. 

Wednesday,  November  29. — I  went  with  the  Governor  to  view 
all  the  Philanthropic  and  Penal  establishments,  which,  much  to  the 
credit,  the  generosity,  and  the  good  feeling  of  New  York  State,  have 
been  founded  and  organized  upon  the  two  Islands  of  Randall  and 
Blackwell.  The  East  River  pours  down  in  rapid  torrents  on  either 
side  of  these  islands,  so  as  to  add  security,  as  well  as  to  contribute 
to  the  salubrity  of  these  establishments.  A  four-oared  boat  took  us 
off  about  seven  miles  from  the  city.  We  first  landed  upon  Randall 
Island,  where  there  is  a  very  large  Refuge  just  opened  for  delin 
quents  ;  and  there  the  great  pauper  establishments  for  children,  and 
also  an  Emigrant's  Home,  are  situated.  Eight  hundred  happy- 
looking  orderly  boys  inarched  about  to  the  time  of  their  own  drums 
and  fifes,  forming  a  young  regiment.  They  manoeuvred  with  more 
precision,  and  dressed  their  lines  more  evenly,  than  the  troops  we 
saw  reviewed  on  Friday.  Their  commander  and  drill  sergeant  was 
an  idiot  man  about  forty.  He  has  the  love  and  the  strict  obedience  of 
his  children,  although  upon  every  subject  excepting  military  discipline 
his  mind  is  a  blank.  It  was  pleasing  to  see  the  innocent  enjoyment 
of  this  poor  general  and  his  young  soldiers.  One  point  of  sympathy 
links  them  together ;  may  they  remain  warriors  of  love  rather  than 
of  contention — the  teachers  and  the  learners  of  Christian  obedience 
and  of  religious  duty.  The  girls  (about  six  hundred)  appeared  to  be 
equally  well  trained  and  cheerful  in  their  several  occupations.  In  no 
institution  have  I  ever  seen  cleanliness  and  order  more  complete  and 
perfect  than  in  these.  The  quarter  for  emigrants  also  gave  rise  to 
feelings  of  satisfaction.  It  is  open  to  all  destitute  strangers  during 
any  period  not  exceeding  five  years  from  their  first  arrival  on  these 
shores.  Six  hundred  infants,  upon  an  average,'^  are  yearly  born 
within  its  precincts.  We  saw  mothers  and  infants  well  nursed  and 
cared  for — occupation  for  the  industrious,  training  for  the  idle ;  and 
all  appeared  quiet  and  contented  in  their  temporary  home.  I  heard 
of  very  little  sickness — only  five  or  six  cases  of  cholera ;  but  there 
are  hospitals  for  children  with  chronic  diseases — one  ward  full  of 


148  SOCIAL    ENGAGEMENTS. 

whooping-cough  patients,  and  another  where  a  few  were  sick  with 
feverish  complaints,  all  thoroughly  ventilated,  and  apparently  all 
made  as  comfortable  as  circumstances  would  admit.  On  Blackwell 
Island  we  saw  a  large  and  excellent  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  a  Pau 
per  House  of  Industry,  and  a  Penal  establishment — good  in  their 
several  ways.  On  the  two  islands  there  is  a  population  of  ten 
thousand — children,  women,  and  men — destitute,  sick,  or  sinful. 
Nowhere  can  one  find  a  spirit  of  more  generous  and  enlightened 
charity  than  that  evinced  by  these  and  the  other  philanthropic  in 
stitutions  of  New  York.  A  great  variety  of  shipping  and  numerous 
steamers  are  constantly  passing  down  the  river  on  each  side.  The 
sight  of  these,  manoeuvring  through  its  shoals  and  rapids,  must  be  a 
constant  source  of  amusement  and  interest  to  the  island  denizens.  I 
saw  a  steamboat  which  whirled  down  with  a  marvellous  rapidity, 
and  numerous  sailing-vessels  were  tacking  backwards  and  forwards, 
preparing  to  pass  through  that  '  Hell-gate '  on  the  river  where  an 
English  frigate  was  once  wrecked.  This  appellation  was  derived 
from  Dutch  settlers.  We  again  entered  a  boat,  and  crossed  the 
rapid  stream  to  a  point  where  carriages  soon  conveyed  our  party 
back  to  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel  in  time  to  fulfil  a  dinner  engagement. 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  sitting  by  the  poet  Bryant,  with  his  picturesque 
grey  head  and  beard. 

Thursday,  November  30. — Thanksgiving-day ;  an  annual  festi 
val,  religious  and  social,  commanded  and  celebrated  by  each  State. 
But  it  was  sad  to  me  ;  for  that  morning  brought  accounts  from  the 

armies  at  Sebastopol,  and  tidings  of  the  death  of  General  S ,  and 

others  known  to  me,  or  dear  to  those  I  know.  Still  I  cannot  wish 
the  place  to  be  taken  until  our  troops  are  strengthened  by  reinforce 
ments. 

Friday,  December  1. — Dr.  Torrey  came  after  breakfast;  he  look 
ed  over  my  gathering  of  plants,  and  was  much  interested  by  the 
specimens  of  those  got  at  Point  Levi.  The  fern  I  found  in  wet  mea 
dows  at  Lake  St.  Charles,  is  Botrychium  simplex.  I  find  the  G-ara- 
dias  are  most  of  them  parasitical  upon  other  living  plants,  which 
makes  the  idea  of  introducing  them  into  our  English  gardens  nearly 


DOCTRINE    OF    COMPENSATIONS.  140 

hopeless.  Mr.  D was  so  obliging  as  to  guide  me  to  some  neces 
sary  calls.  I  made  one  attempt  to  find  my  own  way  through  these 
puzzling  streets,  and  it  proved  very  unsuccessful.  Saturday,  at  Pro 
fessor  Ren  wick's,  21,  5th  Avenue — I  came  here  to  an  early  dinner, 
after  parting  with  the  Governor  and  Mrs.  Seymour  for  a  few  days  ;  they 
promise  to  meet  me  on  Thursday,  at  the  hotel,  West  Point.  Monday  : 

Mr.  B has  made  an  engagement  for  me  to  go  to  see  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

G.  S ,  on  the  Hudson,  where  I  shall  meet  Washington  Irving,  who 

lives  near.  Before  leaving  the  St.  Nicholas,  I  was  annoyed  by  dis 
covering  that  my  four  best  coloured  drawings  of  Niagara  Falls  had 
been  abstracted  from  a  portfolio,  and  other  indifferent  ones  left.  This 
looks  as  if  the  thief  had  an  artistic  judgment,  which  is  not  very  com 
mon  here.  I  have  offered  a  reward,  and  done  all  possible  for  their 
restoration  ;  the  loss  is  irreparable  to  me  :  and  it  is  a  poor  consola 
tion  that  any  one  should  have  considered  them  valuable  enough  to  be 
an  object  of  theft !  The  Canada  Falls,  and  the  American  Falls  from 
Goat  Island,  the  latter  at  sunrise  and  the  former  at  sunset,  were  the 
subjects  which  seem  to  have  attracted  the  notice  and  the  cupidity  of 
some  one  who  took  them  away  from  the  Governor's  private  room. 
This  is  the  third  robbery  I  have  suffered  since  I  came  to  America. 
Paint-brushes  and  pencils  all  stolen  out  of  ray  bag  at  Montreal ; 
cloaks  and  shawls  carried  off  during  the  railway  accident  between 
Niagara  and  Canandaigua;  and  now  my  drawings!  So  many  in 
different  subjects  cross  the  Atlantic,  in  hopes  of  finding  prey  here, 
that  pickpocketing  and  petty  thefts  are  common  ;  indeed  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  guard  against  them  ;  and  according  to  the  doctrine  oi 
compensations,  I  must  be  content  to  put  up  with  such  trivial  miseries, 
in  the  hope  they  may  frank  my  life  and  limbs  through  the  perils  of 
extensive  journeying  by  land  and  sea.  Sunday,  I  went  to  Grace 
Church,  a  Gothic  elevation  designed  by  a  son  of  Professor  Ren  wick; 
the  effect  is  much  injured  by  all  the  windows  being  of  painted  glass, 
of  vivid  colours,  ill  arranged ;  there  were  some  good  bits,  and  era 
sure  with  a  sponge  would  relieve  these  loaded  panes  and  improve 
the  general  effect,  even  without  any  change  in  the  coloured  glass. 
As  it  is,  the  church  is  made  too  obscure,  and  good  taste  offended  by 


150  DEAF    AND    DUMB    INSTITUTE. 

red,  blue,  and  yellow,  interspersed  without  the  smallest  reference  to 
harmony — that  great  requirement  without  which  design  is  nothing 
in  stained  windows.  I  walked  back  to  5th  Avenue  in  such  heavy 
rain  that  no  umbrella  could  avail  to  keep  rue  dry,  even  for  a  short 
distance ;  and  though  my  *  locality  '  bump  carried  me  back  in  the 
right  direction,  yet  on  arriving  at  the  place,  I  rang  at  a  wrong  door ; 
for  as  there  is  a  street  at  right  angles  to  the  house,  I  had  never 
studied  its  exterior  appearance,  and  therefore  was  at  a  loss  to  distin 
guish  it  from  three  other  corners ;  till  I  walked  up  stairs  and  dis 
turbed  a  strange  gentleman,  I  did  not  find  out  my  error.  Mr. 

F ,  the  protector  of  emigrants,  whom  I  met  last  at  Spencer  Wood, 

accompanied  me  yesterday  to  see  the  New  York  Institution  for  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb.  I  had  only  a  short  time  for  my  visit,  but  it  was 
sufficient  to  satisfy  my  mind  of  their  excellent  training  ;  one  of  the 
masters  is  himself  a  deaf  mute  who  was  brought  up  in  the  school, 
and  the  wife  of  another  was  also  a  pupil ;  she  is  pretty  and  intelli 
gent,  but  still  remains  only  able  to  express  herself  by  signs  and 
writing. 

I  was  introduced  to  the  first  class  as  an  English  lady  who  had 
crossed  the  Atlantic  to  see  their  country  and  its  institutions ;  each 
young  person  wrote  upon  his  or  her  slate  a  little  address,  varied  in 
expression  according  to  individual  character  and  feeling.  Gratifica 
tion  at  my  visit  and  respect  for  Britain  were  predominant ;  one  or 
two  made  use  of  the  expression  '  proud  '  England,  but  erased  it  im 
mediately  upon  my  suggesting  that  '  old  '  England  would  be  more 
appropriate.  The  superintendent,  Mr.  Peat,  made  a  request  that  I 
would  propose  a  subject  upon  which  they  could  offer  the  conclusions 
of  their  own  minds.  I  inquired  '  Whether  the  motive  of  love,  or 
that  of  emulation,  was  that  by  which  the  course  of  education  could 
best  be  guided.'  All  but  one  preferred  love ;  some  because  it  was 
the  great  Christian  rule ;  others  because  it  was  the  most  effective ; 
and  one,  who  at  first  was  in  favour  of  emulation,  rubbed  out  the 
sentence  with  an  air  of  repentance,  when  she  read  what  she  thought 
the  better  choice  made  by  her  associates.  I  found  that  neither  Mr. 
F nor  Mr.  C were  of  my  opinion  respecting  the  best  modes 


TUB    MAINE    LAW.  151 

of  eradicating  slavery  and  drunkenness.  I  thought  their  reasons  for 
passing  the  Maine  law  told  against  themselves  ;  for  instance — *  that  a 
large  number  of  the  population  were  in  favour  of  it.'  Is  not  this  very 
fact  a  proof  that  if  you  leave  improvement  to  take  its  own  course,  the 
misuse  of  stimulants  will  cure  itself;  and  a  proof,  also,  that  intemper 
ance  is  gradually  lessening  ?  For,  some  years  ago,  the  people  would  not 
have  favoured  a  sumptuary  law  working  against  their  own  liberty, 
for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  sobriety.  It  is  said  the  Maine  law  is 
acting  advantageously  in  that  State.  Not  a  good  argument,  I 
think ;  because  temporary  success  does  not  justify  mistaken  princi 
ples  ;  besides  which,  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  improve 
ment  is  more  on  the  surface  than  radical ;  that  much  more  drinking 
is  now  done  on  the  sly  ;  and  thus  ilHnformed  though  well-intentioned 
people  have  been  offering  a  bonus  to  hypocrisy,  while  they  thought 
they  were  discouraging  intemperance.  I  find  there  are  now  laws 
enough  in  the  State  of  New  York  to  keep  down  liquor-shops,  if  they 
were  executed  :  but  no  ;  it  is  too  difficult  to  put  in  force  laws  against 
individual  failings.  Therefore  such  laws  become  a  dead  letter  ;  and 
now  they  want  to  heap  more  prohibitions  on  the  statute-book,  to 
make  up  for  not  enforcing  the  first.  They  may  as  well  fight  the 
wind.  Human  nature  was  put  into  this  world  to  learn  self-control, 
and  to  gain  experience ;  a  man  will  never  be  the  more  virtuous  for 
prohibitions,  or  the  more  strong-minded  for  being  kept  wholly  away 
from  temptation  ;  he  must  learn  to  refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the 
good,  and,  if  he  will  not  learn  this  by  the  inculcation  of  good  princi 
ples,  he  will  never  become  more  strong  in  virtue  by  being  kept  out 
of  the  reach  of  evil.  This  is  the  principle  of  the  public  schools  in 
England.  The  head  masters  of  Eton,  and  perhaps  of  the  other  schools, 
have  falsified  it  with  regard  to  smoking ;  and  what  is  the  conse 
quence  ?  The  boys  consider  it  manly  to  brave  punishment ;  and 
there  are  few  among  them  to  whom  cigars  are  not  growing  to  be  a 
necessary  indulgence ;  besides  which,  they  half  smother  themselves 
by  putting  their  heads  under  water  to  disguise  the  smell ;  whereas, 
if  the  habit  had  been  treated  as  ungentlemanly  and  suited  only  to 
the  ale-house,  without  any  positive  prohibition,  it  would  probably,  like 
other  fashions,  have  become  obsolete. 


152  WASHINGTON    IRVING. 

December  4. — I  went  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  B and  Mr.  O 

to  a  pretty  cottage  on  the  Hudson  River,  to  visit  Mr.  and  Mrs.  G. 

S :    the  country  all  white  ;    so  much  snow  that,  for  the  first 

time,  I  was  driven  in  a  sleigh  from  the  railway-station.  I  found  a 
pleasant  family,  whose  mode  of  life  and  arrangements  were  very 
much  those  of  a  small  household  in  England.  We  paid  a  morning 
visit  to  Washington  Irving :  he  is  a  much  younger-looking  man 
than  I  expected  to  see  ;  nothing  of  the  petted  or  the  spoilt  favourite 
in  his  simple  retiring  manner :  he  was  all,  and  more,  than  I  ex 
pected  ;  and  I  felt  unalloyed  pleasure  in  such  an  introduction. 
Bitter  winds  and  snow  continuing,  I  must  give  up  any  idea  of  West 
Point  for  the  present,  and  be  content  with  two  or  three  days  pleas 
antly  and  quietly  spent.  To-morrow  I  shall  go  to  Tarry  Town ; 
and  if  the  Governor  and  Mrs.  Seymour  do  not  meet  me  there,  I 
shall  fulfil  my  engagement  to  them  by  returning  to  Albany. 

December  8. — I  came  on  to  Albany  last  night  in  cold  snowy 
weather,  and  rejoined  my  friends,  as  they  were  unable  to  come  to 
me.  The  journey  was  not  pleasant,  though  the  banks  of  the  Hud 
son  were  still  fine,  even  in  their  wintry  dress.  The  steamer  which 
brought  us  over  the  river  from  the  railway  station  went  crashing 
through  the  ice  ;  and  I  was  not  sorry  to  find  myself  in  State-street. 

Friday,  8th. — Mrs.  Seymour  took  me  out  in  a  sleigh  to  pay 
some  visits ;  the  coldest  day  I  have  ever  felt. 

Saturday,  December  9. — We  walked  to  the  Senate-house  and 
some  other  places.  The  streets  very  slippery ;  sleighs  with  their 
bells  in  all  directions.  Dined  out.  Better  news  from  the  East : 
reinforcements  have  reached  our  army.  As  it  has  already  fought 
and  conquered  five  to  one,  I  cannot  share  the  apprehensions  of  those 
who  fear  the  allied  troops  will  be  beaten  out  of  the  Crimea.  The 
power  of  Russia  was  underrated,  and  for  that  we  are  punished. 

December  10. — There  has  been  a  thaw,  and  snow  is  decreasing. 
The  sleighs  seem  to  go  heavily ;  those  with  one  horse  are  called 
cutters.  It  is  only  the  machines  drawn  by  two  which  are  dignified 
by  the  name  of  sleighs.  The  Governor  is  busy  winding  up  business, 
so  as  to  place  the  affairs  of  the  State  in  the  hands  of  his  successor, 


GOVERNOR    SEYMOUE.  153 

Myron  Clark,  by  the  1st  of  January.  I  have  not  seen  this  gentle 
man  ;  it  does  not  seem  that  his  talents  are  appreciated  highly 
by  individuals  who  have  been  voting  for  him  because  he  belongs  to 
their  particular  party,  while  Mr.  Seymour  appears  to  be  liked  by 
those  who  voted  against  him.  I  extract  the  following  from  a  paper 
politically  opposed : — 

*  Governor  Seymour,  in  his  late  admirable  address  at  the  opening 
of  the  New  House  of  Refuge,  near  New  York,  stated  that  c  during 
this  last  year  he  had  been  compelled  to  act  upon  two  thousand  cases 
for  pardon.  This  duty  is  not  only  most  arduous,  but  most  perplexing 
and  unpleasant.  To  exercise  the  pardoning  power  discreetly  requires 
much  labour  and  anxious  thought;  the  entreaties  of  friends,  of  wives, 
parents,  children,  is  often  overwhelmingly  painful ;  and  he  would  be 
more  than  human  who  did  not  sometimes  err  in  the  exercise  of  this 
important  prerogative.  Our  Governors  have,  however,  seldom  sub 
jected  themselves  to  just  censure  in  the  exercise  of  their  power,  and 
Governor  Seymour  as  seldom  as  any  of  his  predecessors.  His  deci 
sions  have  almost  uniformly  been  wise  and  humane :  and  if  he  has 
sometimes  crushed  the  hopes  of  the  unhappy  relatives  of  the  impris 
oned,  it  has  never  been  because  he  did  not  sympathize  with  them  in 
their  deep  misfortune,  but  because  he  believed  justice  forbade  the 
exercise  of  the  clemency  sought.' 

When  one  considers  the  vast  distances  in  this  Union,  and  the 
size  of  its  component  parts,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  little  a  gov 
ernment  of  centralization  can  ever  suit  the  wants  of  so  large  and 
heterogeneous  an  Empire.  The  State  of  New  York  alone  is  as  large 
as  all  England,  and  it  is  evident  that  local  governments,  such  as 
California  or  Virginia,  must  have  a  much  better  idea  of  the  genius  and 
the  requirements  of  their  several  countries  than  can  be  gained  by  the 
President  and  the  Congress  in  session  at  Washington ;  so,  for  all  local 
purposes,  each  State  ought  to  govern  itself,  and  that  must  have  been 
the  intention  of  the  founders  of  the  Union. 

It  is  true  that  as  yet  police  and  postal  arrangements  are  in  their 
infancy,  and  to  an  English  observer  they  appear  but  clumsily  orga 
nized  ;  but  time  will  improve  and  consolidate  these  matters,  and  1 


154  SECTARIAN    ASSUMPTION. 

should  hope  that  a  future  generation  will  also  consider  the  exercise 
of  political  rights  as  due  rather  to  property,  and  the  virtues  of  prin 
ciple,  independence,  and  freedom  from  selfish  motives,  than  to  the 
mere  fact  of  an  ignorant,  profligate  individual  having  lived,  and  per 
haps  misused,  twenty-one  years  of  life;  so  instead  of  the  'Know- 
nothing  '  proposition  to  take  away  the  elective  franchise  from  newly 
imported  citizens  (which  would  be  invidious  enough  among  a  peo 
ple  who  owe  their  success  and  prosperity  to  a  mixture  of  races  added 
to  the  Anglo-Saxon  element),  it  appears  common  sense  that  the  elec 
tors  of  Governors  should  be  those  who  have  some  reasonable  ideas 
of  government,  and  some  stake  in  the  common  prosperity.  We  this 
day  heard  a  sermon  embodying  higher  church  assumption  than  even 
English  Tractarianism  ;  it  strongly  maintained  infallibility  for  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  scriptural  matters.  The  kind  and 
good  Bishop  of  New  York  was  present ;  but  his  advocacy  of  Church 
claims  is  not  that  of  spiritual  despotism  ;  like  Fenelon,  Bishop  Hora 
tio  Potter  would  lead  home  the  peasant's  cow  ;  his  Christian  benevo 
lence  can  never  be  moved  or  guided  by  a  thought  which  could  mar 
its  charity. — The  rain  falls  fast,  and  I  hope  to  get  south  before  snow 
and  ice  again  encumber  the  roads  and  streets. 

Monday,  December  11. — Snow  again,  but  the  thaw  proceeding. 
I  sent  my  letter,  containing  the  hair  of  the  poor  old  woman  whose 
son  has  become  a  Mormon,  by  a  channel  through  which  it  may  pro 
bably  reach  the  Salt  Lake.  I  think  the  possible  future  of  that  ex 
traordinary  community  an  interesting  speculation.  Strange  that 
the  off-scourings  of  European  civilization  should  establish  polygamy 
— a  practice  branded  as  felonious  by  every  other  State  in  the  Union, 
a  barbarism  which  even  Turkey  is  gradually  casting  oft'!  Does  not 
this  show  the  tendency  of  ignorance  to  return  again  to  the  habits  of 
savage  life,  and  also  to  go  back  to  the  government  of  a  theocracy 
because  they  feel  themselves  incapable  of  self-government?  Yet 
even  the  present  condition  and  past  history  of  this  singular  commu 
nity  is  not  without  some  elements  of  grandeur,  and  even  of  promise. 
Expelled  by  persecution  and  violence  from"  the  parent  State,  the 
Mormons  earnestly  and  sagaciously  employed  themselves  to  build 


HOPES  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  155 

up  a  state  for  themselves.  '  Driven  from  civilized  life,  they  sought 
rest  and  a  home  in  the  wilderness  and  the  desert.'  Blinded  as  they 
are  by  superstition  and  fanaticism,  they  are  still  pioneers  of  civiliza 
tion,  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  vigour  and  energy  with 
which  they  accomplished  their  hegira.  Sitting  proudly  at  the  foot 
of  the  Wahsach  mountains,  the  City  of  the  Salt  Lake  begins  to  ful 
fil  the  magnificent  projects  of  its  founders,  and  rolls  it  along  an  arid 
desert  like  the  roses  of  Jericho  (Anastatica),  to  find  fresh  soil  and 
new  homes  in  the  desert.  Their  settlement  only  dates  from  '47  :  yet 
wide  and  well  watered  streets  and  gardens,  churches,  school-houses, 
mills,  and  public  buildings,  now  ornament  a  city  laid  out  upon  a 
plan  capable  of  including  half  a  million  of  inhabitants.  Though  the 
people  and  their  institutions  have  departed  widely  and  vilely  from 
the  laws  of  morality  and  Christianity,  as  the  darkness  of  ignorance 
becomes  enlightened,  we  must  hope  the  influence  of  designing  vil 
lains  will  be  shaken  off,  and  that  of  the  better  minded  gain  a  rea 
sonable  influence  over  the  deluded,  but  not  evil-intentioned  majority  ; 
so  that,  before  very  long,  the  slough  which  at  present  contaminates 
and  defaces  the  body  politic  of  the  Mormonite  community  may  be 
cast  off. 

Your  affectionate 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  XIV. 


NEW  YORK,  Z><?c.  13, 1S54. 

Mr  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

An  American  gentleman  with  whom  I  have  become  well  ac 
quainted,  took  charge  of  me  yesterday  from  Albany.  I  left  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Seymour  with  regret,  but  they  promise  to  come  to  Washington 
before  I  proceed  farther  south.  On  Saturday  I  again  visited  the 
great  palaeontologist,  Mr.  Hall.  He  gave  me  an  interesting  and  in 
structive  geological  chart  of  his  own  arrangement,  which,  while  it 
exemplifies  only  the  geology  of  New  York  and  the  adjoining  States, 
is,  in  fact,  an  epitome  of  that  of  the  world;  as  from  the  primitive 
rocks,  the  strata  follow  in  regular  succession  up  to  the  cretaceous, 
tertiary,  and  alluvial,  wanting  only  those  beds  of  oolite  and  chalk 
which,  though  well  known  in  England,  are  not  to  be  seen  here.  In 
Mr.  Hall's  map,  the  principal  fossils  to  be  found  in  each  formation 
are  represented  above  it — a  plan  which  considerably  assists  the  tyro. 
The  Governor  of  New  York  promises  me  some  specimens  of  a  new 
mineral  lately  found  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  which  has  been 
named  '  chloractolite,'  from  its  bright  starry  lustre.  It  something  re 
sembles  a  dark  green  serpentine  in  colour,  but  the  shining  brilliant 
appearance  it  has  will  render  it  valuable  for  jewellery  purposes.  No 
specimens  have  yet  been  found  much  larger  than  a  sixpence,  and 
most  I  saw  were  not  bigger  than  pearls.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  came 


THE    FIVE    POINTS. 


157 


to  Albany  in  the  evening :  lie  told  us  about  his  geological  tour  round 
Lake  Superior  and  Michigan,  and  let  me  have  reports  by  the  United 
States'  geologists  Foster  and  Whitney,  which  include  some  very  in 
teresting  sketches  of  the  trap-rock  called  the  Monument  on  Isle  Royal, 
and  of  the  singular  castle-shaped  formations  which  border  part  of 
Lake  Superior.     I  recollect  that  Banvard's  Mississippi  Panorama  re 
presented  rocks  beyond  St.  Louis  of  a  castellated  form.     The  light 
was  more  favourable  this  morning  for  seeing  the  Hudson  River  than 
when  I  went  up  it  last.     We  left  much  snow  at  Albany  ;  but  upon 
approaching  New  York  the  ground  was  no  longer  white,  and  an 
afternoon  clear  and  sunshiny  concluded  by  a  promising  red  sunset. 
We  arrived  at  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel  soon  after  five  o'clock.     Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Blackwell  came  to  see  me  in  the  evening.     I  had  some 
conversation  with  Mr.  Delevan,  one  of  the  conscientious  promoters 
of  the  Maine  Law,  &c.     I  was  not  convinced  by  his  arguments ;  I 
could  not  help  thinking  that  he  forgot  the  American  principle  of  in 
dividual  freedom :  the  same  reasoning  he  made  use  of  would  hold 
good  for  every  kind  of  interference  with  our  neighbours  when  we 
disapprove  their  conduct.     It  is  curious   that   the  New  England 
people,  descendants  of  those  Pilgrim  Fathers  who  crossed  the  Atlan 
tic  to  preserve  their  own  freedom  of  opinion,  have  ever  proved  them 
selves  intolerant  as  regards  the  spiritual  liberty  of  others. 

December  15. — I  visited  the  Five  Points  yesterday,  and  my  ex 
pectations  were  fully  realized.  No  fine  buildings,  no  clap-trap  exhibi 
tions  of  classification  and  order  and  philanthropic  luxury.  Mr.  Pease's 
charity  '  worketh  by  love.'  The  destitute,  the  friendless,  the  erring, 
there  find  aid,  friendship,  advice,  and  consolation ;  the  poor '  have  the 
Gospel  preached  to  them,'  and  the  sick  and  the  sorrowful  are  healed, 
comforted,  and  bid  to  go  in  peace,  as  Christ  would  have  bid  them  go. 
December  16. — A  return  of  visits  occupied  nearly  the  whole  of 
yesterday,  as  I  set  out  this  morning  by  rail  to  Philadelphia.  I  went 

across  the  ferry  to  Brooklyn,  to  call  upon  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S 's,  (of 

Ottawa)  youngest  daughter,  Mrs.  C ,  and  I  there  met  John 

Mackay,  who  told  me  that  my  wish  is  gratified  by  the  name  of  By- 
town  being  finally  changed  to  that  of  Ottawa  City.    The  weather  here 


158  NEW    YORK. 

is  now  damp  and  mild.  I  crossed  the  North  River  ferry  at  nine 
o'clock,  to  take  the  cars  for  Philadelphia.  We  passed  through  several 
towns,  in  a  flat  country,  devoid  of  picturesque  scenery  for  the  first 
sixty  miles.  Then  at  last  I  could  have  believed  myself  on  the 
western  outskirts  of  the  New  Forest,  substituting  hemlock  spruce  and 
red  cedars  for  the  yews  and  hollies  of  England.  As  we  approached 
the  shores  of  the  Delaware,  the  red  cedars  became  so  numerous  that 
many  of  the  fields  were  bordered  with  them  ;  and  from  their  regular 
ity  I  suppose  they  must  have  been  planted.  I  am  glad  to  see  some 
signs  of  planted  trees  in  this  State  and  that  of  New  York  ;  so  some 
of  these  days  these  may  be  fine  single  trees.  At  present  I  have  not 
met  with  anything  I  should  call  fine-spreading  ornamental  timber  ; 
and  I  see  that  it  can  only  arise  from  new  plantations ;  for  the  trees 
of  the  forest  run  up  tall  and  slender,  without  tap  roots,  and  they  have 
such  slight  hold  of  the  ground,  that  when  thinned  out  or  left  stand 
ing  alone,  the  first  storm  lays  them  prostrate.  The  Delaware  is  a 
fine  river,  and  Philadelphia  an  extensive  city  ;  but  there  is  an  unin 
teresting  sameness  in  its  long  streets  of  red  brick  houses,  with  glaring 
white  window-shutters.  Circumstances  will  not  allow  of  my  prolonging 
my  stay  beyond  to-morrow.  I  observe  no  more  evidence  of  Quaker 
ism  in  this  town  than  in  any  other. 

Sunday,  December  17. — A  gloomy-looking,  wintry  day,  though 
without  snow,  and  the  cold  less  extreme  than  at  Albany.  After  a 
search  of  two  hours  yesterday  afternoon,  I  found  the  residence  of  the 
Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  brother  to  the  Bishop  of  New  York.  I 
was  kindly  received  by  Mrs.  Potter,  and  spent  the  evening  at  her 
house ;  but  the  bishop  is  absent  upon  distant  episcopal  duty — much 
to  my  regret.  I  was  taken  to  St.  Andrew's  church  this  morning, 
and  heard  a  sermon  devoid  of  hope  and  love — depravity,  total 
depravity — gloom,  misery,  and  despair — the  light  of  the  Gospel  ex 
tinguished,  and  sin  and  Satan  made  despotic  over  this  wretched 
world  !  The  church  was  crammed  ;  but  I  saw  several  people  sleep 
ing  soundly  through  the  preacher's  denunciations,  and  few  appeared 
to  be  edified.  I  have  now  heard  the  two  extremes  of  preachers, 
high  and  low,  each  taking  a  one-sided  view,  and  each  maintaining  a 


SISTERS    OF    CHARITY. 


159 


kind  of  infallibility  for  their  own  individual  opinion  under  the  shields 
of  Church  and  Scripture— both  equally  'dogmatic,  and  equally  sure 
that  every  view  except  his  own  is  erroneous.  I  drank  tea  with  Mrs. 

Potter,  and  at  nine  o'clock  Dr.  R called  to  take  me  to  see  Mrs. 

R 5  and  her  fine  house  and  conservatories,  gorgeous  French  satin 

furniture,  and  Gobelin  tapestried  chairs  worthy  of  Windsor  Castle. 
Both  in  furniture  and  dress,  the  majority  of  American  ladies  appear 
to  be  wholly  regardless  of  expense. 

Baltimore,  December  19.— Before   leaving   Philadelphia  yester 
day,  I  made  acquaintance  with  an  agreeable  physician,  Dr.  G -, 

who  introduced  me  to  our  consul,  Mr.  Mathew.  The  consul  knows 
friends  of  mine,  and  I  was  much  obliged  to  him  for  some  useful 
information.  Although  heavy  snow  fell  the  early  part  of  the  morn 
ing,  as  my  departure  was  delayed  till  twelve  o'clock,  the  weather 
cleared.  I  had  a  pleasant  sunshiny  journey  of  four  hours  to  Balti 
more,  where  I  found  few  signs  of  snow.  Mrs.  W ,  one  of  my 

pleasant  acquaintances  of  the  White  Mountains,  met  me  at  this  hotel, 
and  took  me  to  her  home— snug,  cheerful,  and  well  (though  not  too 
finely)  furnished.  My  friend  showed  me  some  shells,  and  evinced 
more  interest  in  natural  productions  than  I  have  found  among  ladies 
generally  in  this  country.  We  passed  over  three  rivers  in  our  way 
here  yesterday— the  Delaware,  the  Gunpowder,  and  the  Susque- 
hanna ;  the  last  a  magnificent  water,  and  the  same  I  saw  as  a 
smaller  stream  in  my  way  from  Ithaca  to  Syracuse.  Baltimore  is 
situated  upon  the  Patapsco,  which  is  here  very  broad,  and  more  like 
an  arm  of  the  sea  than  a  river. 

December  20. — Mrs.  W took  me  this  morning  to  see  Mount 

Hope,  a  lunatic  asylum,  managed  by  about  twenty  Sisters  of  Charity, 
who  reside  at  a  house  in  a  very  pretty  situation,  overlooking  the  city 
and  neighbourhood.  The  sisters  act  under  the  direction  of  an  ex 
cellent  Protestant  physician— Dr.  Stokes.  No  bigotry  upon  either 
side  mars  Christian  labour  :  love,  cheerfulness,  comfort,  and  industry 
alleviate  and  bless  the  inmates  of  Mount  Hope.  So  much  pains  is  taken 
to  avoid  even  the  appearance  of  coercion,  that  the  window-frames, 
which  are  made  of  cast-iron  of  a  particular  construction,  are  opened 


160  WASHINGTON. 

a  little  way  by  the  same  movement  at  top  and  bottom,  thus  letting 
in  sufficient  air  without  the  possibility  of  the  gap  being  wide  enough 
for  danger,  so  that  patients  are  allowed  to  open  them  without  risk. 
A  library  of  suitable  and  amusing  books,  objects  of  natural  history, 
music,  handiworks,  are  all  at  the  disposal  of  the  inmates ;  and 
though  some  must  be  under  restraint,  it  is  a  restraint  of  the  kindest 
and  gentlest  description.  We  afterwards  went  to  a  bazaar  of  ladies' 
work,  held  for  the  benefit  of  a  home  for  the  aged  in  reduced  circum 
stances.  All  denominations  of  religionists  had  united  their  en 
deavours;  and  although  I  observe  much  variety  of  opinion  in  re 
ligious  matters,  I  think  that  Christians  here  do  lay  aside  their 
differences  when  a  common  work  is  to  be  accomplished.  I  dined 

and  spent  the  evening  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W . 

December  21. — Yesterday,  I  saw  two  of  the  prettiest  and  best- 
appointed  houses  in  this  place ;  both  fitted  up  in  good  taste,  but 
without  the  extreme  extravagance  and  ostentation  I  remarked  in 
some  of  the  residences  of  the  Northern  States.  Here,  for  the  first 
time,  I  see  nothing  but  black  servants — slaves,  I  believe  ;  but  their 
manner  and  countenances  express  contentment  and  cheerfulness; 
and  certainly  the  relation  of  mistress  and  servant  in  the  South 
has  a  more  agreeable  aspect  than  that  of  the  same  station  in  the 
Northern  States,  which  is  commonly  characterized  by  complaints  of 
annoyance  upon  one  side,  and  a  saucy  indifference  upon  the  other. 
The  dinner-party  at  Mrs.  W—  — 's  was  agreeable,  and  I  met  there 
several  pretty  Southern  ladies :  their  voices  and  way  of  speaking 
struck  me  as  more  refined  and  graceful  than  those  of  the  other 
States  I  have  visited.  Among  some  of  them,  too,  I  find  more  just 
views  of  England  and  English  society — at  least,  among  those  of 
Baltimore ;  further  on,  I  understand,  there  is  universal  prejudice, 
and  an  embittered  tone  of  feeling,  arising  partly  from  family  recol 
lections  of  the  severities  practised  by  the  English  government  and 
military,  in  the  struggle  for  independence ;  and  partly  from  the  well- 
intentioned  but  ill-judged  interference  of  the  present  English  genera 
tion  about  the  Slavery  question.  I  reached  Washington  this  after 
noon — so  much  in  the  dark,  that  I  was  unable  to  judge  of  the 


THE    CAPITOL    AND    MUSEUM.  161 

beauties  of  the  Potomac,  the  shores  of  which   river  \ve  must  have 
skirted  in  our  way. 

December  22. — I  dine  to-day  with  the  British  minister,  who  has 
been  so  obliging  as  to  show  me  the  Capitol  and  Museum,  where  I 
saw  many  interesting  but  uncatalogued  specimens  in  natural  history. 
There  is  an  Alligator  Gar  from  Lake  Pontchartrain,  which,  as  far  as 
it  was  possible  to  judge  from  distant  inspection,  is  of  a  different  kind 
from    that    specimen   which   I   obtained   from   Lake    Champlain, 
although  certainly  of  the  same  family.     An  extraordinary -looking 
fish,  two  or  three  feet  long,  with  a  platypus-like  snout  (which  seems 
made  for  scooping  up  mud  or  sand,  as  it  extends  half  a  foot  over  the 
mouth),  was  in  the  same  case.     There  are  sitting  mummies  from 
Central  America  with   singularly  short   forearms ;    and   an    orni- 
thorynchus  from  Australia,  the  claws  of  which  have  the  property  of 
inflicting  venomous  wounds.     Part  of  the  Capitol  is  a  handsome 
buildmg,  but  the  glaring  white  with  which  the  stone  is  painted  mars 
its  effect ;  and  heavy  ugly  wings  are  in  process  of  erection.     I  shall 
not  see  Congress  in  session  until  after  Christmas.    From  a  verandah 
out  of  the  library,  I  gained  a  good  view  of  the  site  of  Washington 
and  the  Potomac  river.     The  ground  plan  of  wide  alleys  diverging 
from  the  Capitol  is  a  fine  one ;  if  ever  the  present  small  mean-look 
ing  brick  houses  should  be  replaced  by  a  handsome  public  and 
domestic   architecture,  this  city  will   be  worthy  to  be  called  the 
Capital  of  the  Union.     But  at  present  the  population  is  less  than 
that  of  Detroit,  and  the  general  appearance  of  the  town  not  half  as 
handsome. 

Saturday,  December  23. — I  was  introduced  to  several  gentlemen, 
members  of  the  Legislative  Houses,  and  of  the  high  legal  courts  ; 

and  I  find  society  here  most  agreeable.    Dr.  and  Mrs.  B ,  White 

Mountain  friends,  called  and  took  me  to  pay  some  visits.  And  in 
the  evening,  at  eight  o'clock,  I  was  politely  received  by  the  President 
and  Mrs.  Pierce.  I  was  at  first  shown  into  comfortable  and  hand 
somely  furnished  rooms,  alone ;  but  she  soon  joined  me,  and  after  a 
while,  the  President  carne  in.  He  is  a  quiet-looking,  pale,  gentle 
manly  man ;  but  both  he  and  Mrs.  P— - —  had  a  manner  of  subdued 


162 


WASHINGTON. 


unostentatious  sadness,  so  that  during  this  visit  I  thought  more  and 
sympathized  more  with  the  bereaved  parents,  than  with  them  as  the 
President  and  President's  wife  of  the  United  States  of  America.  In 
about  half  an  hour  I  took  leave,  and  returned  to  this  hotel  in  time 
for  a  late  tea. 

Sunday,   December  24.  — Rain  having  fallen   last  night,  and 
frost  having  followed,  the  pavement  of  the  streets  is  covered  by 
sheets  of  ice,  and  it  appears  quite  impossible  to  venture  out.    I  heard 
a  great  many  amusing  stories  to-day  of  Southern  origin.     There  is 
certainly  great  attachment  between  the  negroes  and.  their  masters 
(speaking  generally),  in  spite  of  the  facts  detailed  in    Uncle  Tom. 
One  gentleman  told  me  that  he  has  a  distant  plantation,  which  he 
sometimes  visits  alone ;   at  dinner-time,  he  finds  a  table  loaded  with 
all  kinds  of  delicacies,  presents  from  the  slaves.     He  remonstrated 
with  an  old  Darky  who  waited,  upon  the  uselessness  of  dressing 
fowls,  turkey,  geese,  ducks,  ham,  &c.,  for  one  person.     '  No  matter, 
massa.     When  massa  comes,  must   have   good   dinner   on   table, 
whether  massa  eat  it  or  not.'     A  negro  had  an  unfortunate  love  for 
brandy,  and  though  in  other  respects  a  good  '  boy,'  he  was  caught 
stealing  his  favourite  drink.    At  seventy  years  of  age,  his  master  did 
not  wish  to  punish  him  severely.     So  he  appealed  to  Blackey's  own 
conscience.     '  Harry,  you  know  you  deserve  correction ;   but  with 
all  your  faults,  you  have  a  notion  of  justice.     Now,  if  you  think  it 
right,  you  shall  go  unpunished ;  if  not,  you  shall  condemn  yourself.' 
'Well,  massa,  me  ole  man— me  take  ten  lashes,  and  me  hope  be 
better.'     And  he  went  out,  ordered  his  own  punishment,  and  sub 
mitted  to  it  without  a  murmur  ! 

A  Frenchman  and  his  wife,  settled  in  the  South,  a  few  miles 
from  a  town  where  the  husband  went  in  every  morning  for  his  em 
ployment  :  he  procured  a  horse,  and  his  wife  made  him  an  orna 
mented  bridle,  and  smartened  him  up,  and  he  was  to  ride  backwards 
and  forwards  to  avoid  fatigue ;  in  coming  home  one  day,  a  rattle 
snake  lay  in  a  threatening  attitude  in  the  path ;  the  horse  started, 
and,  when  pressed  to  pass,  threw  his  master  actually  upon  the  reptile  : 
he  jumped  up  and  ran  one  way,  the  rattlesnake  making  off  the 


A    MOTLEY    ASSEMBLAGE.  1C3 

other,  and  he  told  his  wife :  'Never  saw  a  snake  so  dom-scared  in 
all  my  life  ! '  On  Christmas-day  I  w  alked  to  church  with  a  young 
lady,  whose  family  reside  within  a  few  miles  of  this  place ;  but  they 
take  up  their  residence  in  this  house  during  the  winter.  I  under 
stand  that  the  habit  of  hotel  life  is  every  year  becoming  more 
general  in  the  States:  this  is  partly  encouraged  by  the  troubles 
arising  from  servants  ;  the  older  ladies  get  rid  of  house-keeping,  and 
the  young  ladies  are  indulged  with  constant  society ;  but  to  English 
tastes  this  mode  of  existence  would  be  unbearable — continued  noise, 
bustle,  and  excitement,  no  repose  of  mind,  and  no  home  duties.  It 
is  advantageous  to  a  foreigner,  who  wishes  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  people  of  the  country ;  but  I  should  suppose  it  must  be 
ruinous  to  the  manners  and  the  domestic  character  of  the  higher 
class  of  young  women ;  frivolity  and  indolence  must  be  encouraged, 
for  any  regular  plan  of  industrial  occupation  is  a  hopeless  attempt  in 
such  places  as  these.  I  would  rather  take  up  my  abode  in  any 
farm-house  in  England,  than  be  condemned  to  fritter  away  my  life 
in  a  great  American  hotel.  Still,  for  me,  as  a  stranger  and  a  traveller, 
it  is  uncommonly  pleasant ;  I  find  acquaintances  from  Cuba,  Cali 
fornia,  all  the  Southern  States ;  from  each  of  the  Northern — even 
some  from  Canada ;  naval  men,  who  have  visited  Japan  ;  politicians, 
judges,  bishops,  botanists,  geologists,  educationalists,  philanthropists, 
abolitionists,  slave-holders,  voyages  of  discovery  men,  and  men  who 
have  been  some  of  all  these  things  at  various  periods  of  their  lives, 
with  a  large  number  of  ladies,  all  willing  to  converse,  and  vying  in 
kindness  and  hospitality  towards  me,  the  only  foreigner  and  stranger 
among  them.  All  this  makes  me  sometimes  fear  I  may  be  inclined 
to  over-value  myself,  and  that  before  my  return  to  England  I  may 
be  puffed  up  by  conceit  and  vanity :  the  best  hope  is,  that  I  hardly 
have  time  to  become  inflated ;  for  there  is  also  much  here  to  make 
one  forget  self.  The  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  brother  to  my  friend 
the  Bishop  of  New  York,  arrived  here  from  a  tour  in  his  diocese 
(which  has  the  extent  of  all  England),  the  day  before  yesterday,  to 
superintend  or  take  part  in  an  Association  for  educational  purposes, 
which  holds  its  sessions  (or  conventions,  as  they  are  called  here)  at 


1  64  WASHINGTON. 

the  Smithsonian  Institution.  Bishop  Potter  is  so  good  as  to  allow 
of  my  accompanying  him  there,  so  that  he  unites  instruction  and 
attention  to  a  stranger  with  his  professional  duties :  it  is  impossible 
not  to  feel  deeply  the  agreeable  and  useful  influence  of  his  truly 
Christian  heart  and  powerful  mind,  so  that  I  consider  myself  most 
fortunate  in  such  an  acquaintance. 

December  28. — I  spent  nearly  all  day  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Educational  Association  ;  much  interesting  information  was  elicited, 
particularly  from  Mr.  Barnard,  who  having  been  to  England  for  the 
purpose  of  comparing  our  institutions  with  those  of  the  United 
States,  showed  himself  well-informed  and  candid  in  his  deductions. 
I  was  surprised  to  find  that  there  are  still  600,000  people  in  the 
United  States  unable  either  to  write  or  read  ;  and  that  this  ignorance 
is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  emigrant  population.  I  accompanied 
the  bishop  to  a  party  at  Mr.  Corcoran's,  where  there  are  some 
pretty  pictures,  one  of  Morland's,  from  which  I  remember  seeing  a 
print  in  my  childhood.  The  educational  meeting  did  not  break  up 
until  Friday,  the  29th,  after  proposing  that  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Association  shall  be  held  at  New  York,  the  end  of  August,  1855. 
The  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  and  other  members  left  Washington 
in  the  afternoon  of  that  day.  Among  the  remarks  made  by  Pro 
fessor  Henry  and  others,  as  to  the  results  of  early  discipline  and 
self-control  upon  the  character  of  after-life  ;  it  was  observed  that  no 
instance  of  unhappy,  childish  old  age  could  be  brought  to  mind,  in 
which  the  cultivation  of  the  intellect  and  the  habits  of  varied  study, 
alternating  with  healthy  bodily  exercise,  were  continued  without 
intermission  after  sixty  years  of  age,  and  had  been  regularly  pursued 
in  previous  life.  It  is  supposed  that  old  people  must  be  wedded  to 
the  opinions  and  customs  of  their  youth  ;  but  this  is  the  misfortune 
of  those  only  who  consider  their  notions  fixed  and  their  education 
and  information  complete  :  a  man  still  seeking  instruction  at  seventy 
will  be  as  open  to  conviction  and  to  change  of  opinion  as  he  was  at 
seventeen  :  it  is  the  '  too-old-to-learn  people  '  who  sink  into  dotage 
and  depression.  Another  awful  fact  for  the  dissolute  or  the  idle 
youth  must  be  stated — that  even  when  the  check  of  public  opinion 


DANCING.  165 

and  love  of  approbation  induce  self-control  and  moral  conduct 
during  the  middle  age,  if  there  has  not  been  laid  in  early  life  a 
foundation  of  principle  and  good  habits,  the  consequences  of  early 
profligacy  show  themselves  in  a  return  to  vicious  acts,  as  mental 
power  wanes  with  added  years,  and  the  hoary  sinner  goes  to  his 
grave  in  sin  and  misery — so  the  end  of  that  man  is  worse  than  his 
beginning.  It  may  be  well  for  the  young  to  hear  this  ;  for  it  was 
enunciated  and  agreed  to  as  truth  by  a  body  of  men  whose  know 
ledge  and  experience  can  hardly  be  gainsaid.  This  evening  I  was 
invited  by  Mrs.  Fremont,  in  the  absence  of  her  husband,  to  see  a 
series  of  daguerreotypes,  brought  by  Colonel  Fremont  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains :  though  many  had  reference  merely  to  a  choice 
of  country  for  railroads,  they  are  on  the  whole  very  interesting ; 
some  rocks  of  the  old  red  sandstone  formation  stood  up  from  a 
plain,  in  form  and  appearance  like  gigantic  Egyptian  statues  ;  these 
were  in  the  Mormon  district.  On  returning  to  Willard's,  I  found 
dancing  going  on  very  merrily  in  the  ladies'  room,  four  negroes — 
piano,  hautboy,  violin,  and  violoncello — playing  in  excellent  tune, 
and  with  sufficient  taste  and  time.  The  ladies  were  all  in  demi- 
toilette  ;  but  I  do  not  see  so  generally  the  absurd  flaunty  style  of 
attire  so  remarkable  at  New  York. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTEK  XY. 


THE    NEW    YEAR. 


"WASHINGTON,  January  1, 1855. 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

No  former  year  of  my  life  has  begun  so  strangely  as  this ! 
I  think  there  is  something  beautiful  in  one  feature  of  the  American 
celebration  of  New  Year's  Day.  It  is  made  an  opportunity  for  the 
oblivion  of  neglects,  and  for  the  forgiveness  of  social  injuries.  On 
this  day,  visits  of  kindness  and  congratulation  are  not  confined  to 
intimate  friends,  but  every  one  who  has  a  wish  to  be  civil  to  his 
neighbour  is  cordially  received  by  him  or  her.  The  ladies  commonly 
stay  at  home  to  welcome  their  visitors,  while  gentlemen  make  a 
point  of  calling  upon  all  their  acquaintances,  remaining  at  each 
house  perhaps  not  more  than  five  minutes  ;  but  still  the  call  is  ac 
cepted  as  one  of  cordiality  and  good-will.  In  many  families,  re 
freshments  of  an  elegant  kind  are  prepared  and  offered  by  the  lady 
of  the  house ;  and  from  the  President  downwards,  the  population  in 
all  the  towns  and  cities  are  intent  upon  the  promotion  of  hospitality 
and  kind  feeling.  Mr.  Crampton  took  me  into  the  diplomatic  circle 
at  the  White  House,  where,  being  presented  to  most  of  the  gentle 
men,  I  actually  shook  hands  with  the  Russian  minister ;  and  at  this 
moment  was  not  that  the  greatest  homage  I  could  offer  to  the  peace 
making  duty  of  the  day  ?  We  next  visited  Secretary  Marcy's,  where 


WASHINGTON    AND    ANDRE.  16*7 

there  was  a  reception,  which,  like  that  of  the  President,  may  be  at 
tended  by  everybody.  As  we  were  early,  the  party  was  small ;  but 

afterwards  I  went  to    Dr.  B 's,  where   for   three   hours  I  was 

present  at  an  in-pouring  of  visitors,  and  I  made  the  acquaintance  of 
many  interesting  and  agreeable  people ;  among  them  a  charming 
Lithuanian  lady,  the  wife  of  a  Polish  gentleman  of  rank,  nearly  con 
nected  with  Prince  Czartoriski.  Dancing  and  other  amusements  at 
the  Hotel  in  the  evening. 

January  2. — Part  of  the  morning  was  devoted  to  the  School  of 
Design,  which  is  well  directed  by  Mr.  Whittaker,  who  was  born  an 
Englishman.  A  lady  afterwards  carried  me  to  the  State  Paper 
Office,  where  I  saw  interesting  documents;  among  them  some 
private  letters  characteristic  of  the  firm,  purpose- like  Washington; 
and  a  most  touching  original  note,  containing  poor  Andre's  request 
for  a  soldier's  death,  instead  of  that  of  the  gibbet.  The  calm, 
gentlemanly  writing,  without  tremor  and  unmarked  by  haste — not 
an  unnecessary  stroke  nor  a  useless  word — takes  one  into  the  very 
heart  of  the  man  who  wrote  it.  Washington  was  deeply  moved, 
but  gave  no  reply.  After  all  he  was  right.  Though  poor  Andre 
was  the  victim  of  that  wretch  Arnold  (who  lived  only  to  die  a 
hundred  times  over  under  the  scorn  of  England  and  America),  still 
he  was  taken  in  disguise  ;"jind  since  Washington  felt  that  an  ex 
ample  had  become  necessary,  he  was  obliged  to  condemn  Andre  as 
the  spy,  not  as  the  soldier.  After  our  visit  to  the  State  department, 

I  went  by  the  request  of  Miss  G and  with  her,  to  see  a  young 

lady,  in  the  hope  that,  by  joining  my  persuasions  to  Miss  G 's, 

we  might  induce  her  to  assist  some  effort  for  training  women,  through 
an  improved  education,  for  teachers.  In  the  evening.  I  accompanied 
another  lady  to  hear  Mr.  Marsh's  lecture  on  Constantinople  and  the 
Bosphorus.  We  met  the  President  and  Mrs.  Pierce,  who  were  on 
the  platform  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  The  lecture  was 
rather  commonplace,  but  the  large  room  was  crowded  by  an  intelli 
gent  and  attentive  audience.  It  is  in  form  and  arrangement  one  of 
the  best  lecture-rooms  I  ever  saw.  These  last  three  days  the  weather 
has  been  clear  and  pleasant,  but  not  warmer  than  in  England. 


168  WASHINGTON. 

January  3. — Mr.  Ingersoll  took  me  to  see  Congress  in  session. 
I  was  fortunate  in  the  moment  accidentally  chosen.  After  some 
time  spent  in  hearing  a  rather  confused  and  noisy  debate,  there  were 
two  good  speeches  in  their  several  lines,  one  from  a  young  man,  the 
California!!  member — clear,  concise,  fluent,  and  business-like ;  it  was 
about  a  land  commission  :  the  other,  from  Mr.  K ,  of  South  Car 
olina — fervid,  energetic,  argumentative,  and  eloquent.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  terms  '  Whig '  and  '  Democrat '  have  differ 
ent  meanings  here  to  those  which  they  express  in  England.  The 
American  Democrat  designates  enlightened,  consistent  principles ;  the 

"Whig,  narrow-minded,  bigoted  Republicanism.     Mr.  K 's  speech 

lasted  one  hour,  without  proving  tedious  or  uninstructive.  It  is  im 
possible  in  a  few  words  to  do  justice  either  to  his  eloquence  or  his 
reasoning  ;  but  after  making  a  rapid  though  comprehensive  sketch 
of  the  present  state  of  parties  in  this  country,  he  affirmed  that  in  fact 
there  never  has  been  in  the  world,  and  never  can  be,  more  than  two 
great  parties — consisting,  one  of  well-informed  liberal  men,  the  other 
of  ignorant  bigoted  men  ;  that  new  names  and  a  new  organization 
are  only  a  sign  that  under  old  names  one  of  the  old  parties  has 
become  effete.  So,  at  the  present  moment,  the  Whigs  have  appa 
rently  disbanded,  but  in  truth  they  have  only  reformed,  to  enlist  and 
to  march  under  the  '  Know-nothing '  banners.  They  have  indeed 
assumed  a  most  suitable  and  characteristic  designation,  one  which 
might  well  have  been  selected  by  their  opponents.  Socialists  in  prac 
tice,  they  desire  to  arm  labour  against  capital ;  Roman  Catholics  in 
principle,  they  would  advocate  bigotry  in  lieu  of  tolerance  ;  arbitrary 
in  government,  they  would  enact  white  slavery  while  they  profess  to 
do  away  with  black  servitude.  Falsifying  the  principles  and  tearing 
up  the  foundations  of  freedom,  *  they  are,'  said  the  orator,  '  mutes 
who  would  follow  the  funeral  of  the  Republic.'  Upon  the  whole  I 
was  agreeably  surprised  with  the  good  speaking  and  general  appear 
ance  of  Congress  •  because  I  have  been  told  by  almost  everyone 
since  I  came  to  America,  that  I  should  find  a  sad  lack  of  talent  and 
political  honesty.  Respecting  the  latter  quality,  of  course  I  am  not 
capable  of  judging ;  but  there  seems  no  lack  of  honest  faces,  and  I 


ANNIVERSARY    SUPPER. 

find  less  assumption  in  manner  than  I  expected.  Mr.  Ingersoll  took 
me  into  the  Speaker's  private  room,  where  we  found  Mr.Boyd  alone, 
havino-  been  disengaged  from  the  chair  by  a  committee  of  the 
'  Whole '  (as  it  is  called  here),  which  enables  the  Speaker  to  place  a 
substitute  in  his  chair.  In  this  room  I  saw  the  place  where  President 
Adams  expired ;  it  is  marked  by  his  bust.  Upon  my  return  home, 

findino-  Mr.  C had  called  twice,  I  went  to  see  him  at  Ins  house, 

and  we  had  an  interesting  conversation  upon  educational  subjects. 
In  the  evening  I  dined  with  our  minister,  and  sat  between  Secretary 
Marcy  and  Mr.  Gushing,  the  Attorney-General.  There  was  a  large 
party  of  gentlemen,  and  three  ladies  besides  myself— Mrs.  Marcy's 
«rister  (Mrs.  French),  Miss  Marcy,  and  Mrs.  Campbell,  wife  of  the 
Solicitor-General.  Upon  returning  to  Willard's  Hotel,  I  found  the 
gallery  and  ladies'  room  crowded  by  visitors,  and  the  mulatto  band, 
as  usual,  in  requisition.  I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Kietl,  the  orator 
of  the  morning.  There  are  '  Know-nothings'  (even  feminine  ones) 
among  the  residents  in  this  hotel.  I  can  ^  easily  discover  them  by 
their  crude,  unintelligent  style  of  conversation. 

Thursday,  January  4.— There  was  a  great  assemblage  last  night 
in  the  room  underneath  mine— a  supper  of  gentlemen  for  the  cele 
bration  of  some  anniversary  ;  a  band  of  music,  songs,  speeches,  and 
vociferous  applause.  Sleep  being  out  of  the  question,  I  rose  at  two 
o'clock,  and  almost  read  through  Lord  Carlisle's  Diary  in  the  Turk 
ish  Waters  before  daylight.  Of  course  I  was  gratified  at^  finding 
our  cousin  of  the  Retribution  so  highly  spoken  of  in  it.  This  morn- 
ino-  I  was  a  good  deal  occupied  in  arranging  a  sitting  in  my  own 

room,  that  Mrs.  S (the  only  very  talented  American  artist  I  have 

yet  met  with)  might  have  the  opportunity  to  make  a  drawing  of  an 
acquaintance  of  mine.  In  the  library  of  the  Capitol  there  is  one  of  the 
most  exquisite  miniatures  by  this  lady  I  ever  saw.  It  almost  resem 
bles  some  of  Thorburn's  ;  but  there  is  so  little  real  appreciation  of  art  in 
Washington,  that  I  found  Mrs.  S hardly  able  to  procure  em 
ployment,  crowded  as  the  city  is  with  notabilities  from  all  parts  of  the 
Union.  Her  slight  sketches,  as  well  as  the  more  finished  miniatures, 
are  pretty,  and  her  drawing  correct ;  yet,  excepting  a  little  instruc- 


170  WASHINGTON. 

tion  from  some  English  person  when  very  young,  she  appears  almost 
wholly  self-taught.  Lieutenant  Maury  was  so  obliging  as  to  call ; 
he  gave  me  a  tempting  invitation  to  drink  tea  with  his  family  at  the 
Observatory,  the  first  evening  I  see  any  chance  of  visible  stars.  In 
the  afternoon,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ingersoll  took  me  again  to  the  Capitol. 
There  had  been  an  early  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  and  though 
Congress  was  sitting  (it  was  not  engaged  in  business  which  interest 
ed  me),  a  large  majority  of  members  were  occupied  at  their  desks 
writing  letters.  This  habit  deteriorates  much  from  the  dignity  and 
statesmanlike  appearance  of  the  House  ;  and  I  remember  observing 
the  same  thing,  and  making  the  same  remark,  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  at  Paris,  Quebec,  and  in  all  the  legislative  assemblies  in 
which  the  members,  instead  of  being  obliged  to  retire  to  the  lobbies 
(as  in  our  parliamentary  houses)  for  letter -writing  and  private  busi 
ness,  are  accommodated  with  chairs  and  tables  in  the  halls,  where 
public  affairs  only  should  be  transacted.  Here  members  of  Congress 
remain  half  their  time,  unconscious  of  what  is  going  forward,  absorbed 
in  their  individual  interests,  when  they  ought  to  be  wholly  given 
to  those  of  the  public — so  that  they  look  more  like  an  assemblage 
of  clerks  than  of  statesmen.  To-day  I  dined  with  the  President,  by 
the  formal  invitation  of  a  week.  The  party  consisted  of  about  thir 
ty-two.  I  sat  between  Mr.  Broadhead  and  Mr.  Ashley,  two  mem 
bers  of  the  Senate,  who  have  passed  some  time  in  England.  There 
were  a  good  many  ladies,  but  more  gentlemen.  The  President 
and  Mrs.  Pierce  sat  opposite  on  each  side  the  table ;  and  I  was 
near  the  former.  The  dinner  was  handsome,  and  well  arranged 
in  French  fashion  ;  flowers  and  fruit  only  on  the  table,  and  one 
dish  at  a  time  handed  round.  In  the  reception-room  there  were 
some  splendid  white  camellias,  covered  by  flowers  which  I  think  are 
larger  here  than  any  with  us  ;  great  use  is  made  of  the  fir-like  Lycopo- 
dium  and  the  elegant  Steevia,  in  the  composition  of  ornamental  bou 
quets,  some  of  which  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  ladies.  At 
half-past  nine  the  party  broke  up,  having  met  at  six  o'clock.  Upon 
returning  to  the  hotel,  I  spent  the  remainder  of  the  evening  in  plea 
sant  conversation — principally  with  Miss  Cass  ;  she  and  her  father, 


SMITHSONIAN    INSTITUTE.  1*71 

General  Cass,  usually  reside  in  this  house  during  the  winter.  The 
society  in  the  ladies'  room  is  diversified,  and  by  no  means  stiff.  There 
are  whist-  tables,  and  occasional  dancing  and  music.  I  never  saw  any 
card-playing  for  money  in  the  United  States. 

Saturday,  January  6. — Mrs.  Fremont  called  upon  me  yester 
day  morning ;  and  from  her  brother-in-law  Mr.  Jones,  I  received  a 
large  long-shaped  acorn,  eatable  like  the  Spanish  chestnut.  It  was 
brought  from  a  mountainous  region  in  California.  This  and  one 
black  as  ebony  from  the  same  country,  I  hope  to  send  soon  by  a 
private  hand  to  be  planted  in  England.  I  have  a  pretty  little  sleep 
ing  tortoise  also,  the  Picta ;  when  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gray  arrive,  I  shall 
ask  them  to  carry  it  back  to  Boston  to  await  my  return  there.  I 
hope  to  have  this,  and  a  box  tortoise  from  Albany,  and  a  spotted 
one  from  Rhode  Island,  as  live  specimens  of  the  tortoise  fami 
lies.  I  spent  the  chief  part  of  the  5th  of  January  in  returning  visits. 

This  morning,  the  6th,  I  walked  to  the  Smithsonian  Institute, 
and  got  much  information  about  objects  of  natural  history  from 
Professor  Baird.  Another  foggy  damp  day,  quite  as  thick  as  any  in 
London,  barring  the  smoke.  I  have  been  reading  two  pamphlets 
giving  opposite  views  upon  the  subject  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu 
tion.  A  controversy  is  going  on  here  respecting  the  distribution  of 
the  fund  left  by  our  countryman  to  found  an  establishment  at  Wash 
ington  *  For  the  Increase  and  Diffusion  of  Knowledge  among  Men.' 
It  would  be  difficult  to  credit  the  fact,  had  I  not  the  best  authority 
for  it,  that  the  whole  annual  income,  being  thirty  thousand  dollars,  a 
vote  of  Congress  decided  (appointing  Regents  to  carry  its  decisions 
into  effect),  that  '  a  suitable  building  of  sufficient  size,  with  rooms 
and  halls  for  reception  and  arrangement,  upon  a  liberal  scale,  of 
objects  of  natural  history,  geological,  mineralogical,  and  botanical, 
properly  classed  and  arranged,  with  a  chemical  laboratory,  lecture- 
rooms,  &c.,  shall  be  organized ; '  and  then  assigned  a  sum  not  ex 
ceeding  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  a  library.  If  this  were  to 
be  understood  as  appropriating  five  parts  of  the  whole  income  to 
buying  and  collecting  books,  the  absurdity  of  the  first  provisions 
would  be  evident ;  so  the  managers  (as  it  appears  to  me  sensibly 


172 


WASHINGTON. 


enough)  took  advantage  of  the  loop-hole  afforded  by  the  words  l  not 
exceeding,'  and  have  gone  on,  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  endeavour 
ing  to  realize  the  apparent  intentions  of  the  founder  and  of  Con 
gress;  and,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  in  a  reasonable  and  intelligent 
manner.  Yet  a  party  of  men  of  some  talent  and  ability  are  bent 
upon  maintaining  that  a  library,  and  a  library  only,  was  to  be  estab 
lished.  If  Mr.  Smithson  had  contemplated  this  narrow  view,  he 
could  easily  have  stated  it.  I  should  imagine  it  was  his  intention, 
by  'A  Central  Institution  for  the  Diffusion  of  Knowledge  amono- 

£?  £3 

Men,'  to  counteract  the  mercantile  and  Mammonite  spirit  which 
possesses  the  majority,  and  open  the  book  of  Nature  to  their  com 
prehension  :  while  by  promoting  healthier  ideas  upon  education,  the 
crude  and  absurd  opinions  too  generally  advanced  and  acted  upon, 
will  be  amended  and  counteracted,  and  an  improved  and  more  prac 
tical  female  training  will  be  encouraged.  It  will  no  longer  be  gravely 
enunciated  at  an  educational  convention — 'That  the  stimulus  which 
the  human  heart  requires  is  wanting  for  women  in  the  present  age, 
and  that  society  gives  them  nothing  to  aim  at;'  but  if  so,  give  them 
reasonable  aims.  Let  them  aim  at  duty,  not  notoriety.  Let  them 
keep  within  their  appropriate  sphere,  cultivating  sufficient  moral 
courage  to  act  within  that  sphere  for  the  benefit  of  their  fellow-crea 
tures,  and  particularly  for  the  advantage  of  their  sex  ;  disciplining 
and  training  their  own  minds  to  be  the  educated  companions,  not 
the  rivals,  of  men.  Let  them  be  the  heart-consolers,  the  binders-up 
of  broken  spirits,  the  *  sisters  of  the  sisterless,'  the  presiding  geniuses 
of  the  social  circle.  Is  that  not  work  enough  for  them  to  do?  In 
this  country,  I  hear  that  '  though  it  has  no  queen,  all  the  women  are 
queens?  I  should  rather  call  them  playthings — dolls ;  things  treated 
as  if  they  were  unfit  or  unwilling  to  help  themselves  or  others  :  and 
while  we  in  England  have  nearly  cast  aside  arts  of  the  toilet  worthy 
only  of  dolls,  I  see  here  false  brows,  false  bloom,  false  hair,  false 
everything ! — not  always,  but  too  frequently.  Dress  in  America,  as 
an  almost  general  rule,  is  full  of  extravagance  and  artificiality ;  and 
while  women  show  such  a  want  of  reliance  upon  their  native  powers 
of  pleasing,  their  influence  in  society  will  be  more  nominal  than 
real. 


CUBA    AND    HER   WRONGS. 


Monday,  January  8.— This  day  I  made  my  first  appearance  at  a 
morning  reception.  Ladies  here  issue  cards  or  notes,  stating  they 
are  at  home  on  particular  days,  when  any  acquaintances  may  visit 
them.  This  is  a  pleasant  and  rational  mode  of  making  calls,  and 
appears  to  me  worthy  of  adoption  elsewhere.  Mr.  Ingeraoll  was  so 
obliging  as  to  take  me  to  listen  to  arguments  in  the  Supreme  Legal 
Court,  the  only  tribunal  which  is  competent  to  settle  questions  which 
may  arise  between  States.  A  counsel  spoke  so  clearly  and  concisely 
upon  a  particular  point  of  law,  that  he  brought  it  within  my  com 
prehension  ;  the  case  was,  that  of  the  boundary  line  to  be  drawn 
between  Georgia  and  Florida.  My  friends  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gray  have 
arrived  from  Cambridge.  I  dined  with  them  at  Professor  Henry's, 
and  went  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution  to  hear  the  first  of  nine  lec 
tures  on  botany  by  Dr.  Gray.  Although  the  morning  was  fine  and 
clear,  rain  came  on  at  night;  and  since  Lieutenant  Maury's  invitation 
to  the  Observatory,  the  weather  has  afforded  no  opportunity  for  its 
acceptance. 

Tuesday,  January  9.— Cloudy  and  damp.    I  went  with  an  agree 

able  Cuban  gentleman,  Mr. ,  to  a  morning  reception  at  Mrs. 

p »Sj  and  then  he  took  me  to  see  some  pictures  at  the  Capitol, 

which  are  to  be  disposed  of  by  raffle.  One,  St.  Thomas  giving 
Charity  (by  a  pupil  of  Murillo's,  touched  by  the  master),  is  an  inter 
esting  picture ;  the  others  I  did  not  admire.  The  absence  of  any 
positive  news  from  England  is  very  trying,  and  the  details  brought  by 
the  former  mail  most  afflicting  ;  still,  however  saddening,  no  English 
pereon  can  despair  of  the  ultimate  success  of  heroism  and  civilization 
against  cruelty  and  barbarism. 

I  have  become  well  acquainted  with  some  pleasant  intelligent 
Cuban  families  here,  and  their  accounts  make  me  feel  it  impossible 
not  to  wish  that  their  fine  island  should  be  more  free,  misgoverned 
and  pillaged  as  it  is  by  its  present  masters  ;  and  not  being  very  far 
from  the  American  shores,  I  wish  America  could  purchase  it :  the 
case  would  be  analogous  to  that  policy  of  Mr.  Pitt,  by  which  the 
Crown  of  England  took  possession  of  the  little  kingdom  of  Man  ; 
and  with  respect  to  which  our  family  had  only  the  choice  of  accept- 


174  WASHINGTON. 

ing  a  certain  sum,  or  of  having  it  seized  by  the  law  of  the  strongest. 
The  mines  alone  in  the  last  mentioned  island  now  produce  more 
than  the  interest  of  the  money. 

Wednesday,  January  10. — Last  night  I  attended  an  evening  party, 
which  included  all  the  notabilities  of  Washington.     It  was  much 
like  a  crowded  assembly  in  London,  except  that  I  thought  there  was . 
more  amusement ;    because  the  Washington  party  consisted  of  a  re 
union  of  people  who,  though  under  the  same  government,  reside 
thousands  of  miles  apart.      There  I  received  invitations  from  the 
South  and  the  North,  the  East  and  the  West,  and  fully  mean  to  avail 
myself  of  some  of  them.     I  was  given  a  very  hospitable  one,  to  visit 
a  member  of  Congress  who  resides  upon  the  Mississippi,  not  an  im 
practicable  distance  from  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony.      Some  of   the 
invitations  are   to  Mexico,  Texas,  and  California  ;  not  forgetting  the 
Salt  Lake,  in  consequence  of  an  introduction  to  the  Mormon  dele 
gate — a  gentlemanly,  respectable-looking  old  man  with  a  bald  head. 
I  did  not  inquire  if  he  has  twelve  wives;  but  an  amusing  account 
has  been  given  me  with  regard  ^o  the  domestic  arrangements  of  that 
strange  people.     It  seems  that  when  the  first  wife  wants  help  in  the 
household,  she  petitions  her  husband  to  take  another  spouse — a  good 
cook  or  a  dairywoman  for  instance,  or  a  sempstress — so  one  wife  is 
housekeeper,   another  has  the  cooking  department,  a  third  manages 
the  nursery,  and  so  forth  ;  and  as  there  is  no  small  difficulty  in  get 
ting  good  servants  in  the   United    States,  this    matrimonial  plan 
ensures  a  more  permanent  and  better  ordered  household  than  could 
be  attained  without  it.  I  am  informed  that  the  domestic  troubles  of  a 
wife  in  the  United  States  are  such  that,  unless  she  resides  in  the 
slave  countries,  she  thinks  it  far  more  convenient  to  be  first  wife,  with 
half-a-dozen  subordinate  ones,  than   to  be  sole  darling  with  the  dis 
advantages  of  saucy  servants  and  the  discomforts  of  bad  dinners  ;  so 
that,  in  fact,  Republicanism,    and  an  unnatural  attempt  at  equal 
ity,  has  caused  a   return   of  the  terrible  evils  of  polygamy.     What 
a  curious  result.     I  hope  this  strange  custom  will  not  spread  over 
the  Union  ! 

January  1 1 . — I  spent  three  hours  in  Congress  yesterday  hoping 
to  hear  Mr.  C speak  about  the  '  Know-nothings;' the  House 


A    POSTULATE.  175 

was  taken  up  by  a  hot  discussion  upon  the  question  of  foreigners  receiv 
ing  immediate  grants  of  land,  with  an  understanding  that  the  franchise 
will  become  theirs  at  the  termination  of  five  years,  which  is  the 
present  law.    This  of  course  bore  upon  the  '  Know-nothing  '  ground, 
and  it  is  sad  to  see  how  deeply  a  secret  society,  banded  together 
upon  exclusive,  illiberal,  and  arbitrary  principles,  has  taken  root  in 
the  free  soil  of  America.     In  conversation,  it  is  easy  to  judge  whe 
ther  individuals  are  in  their  hearts  favourable  to  such  views ;  and 
every  day  makes  me  think  the  ramifications  of  the  conspiracy  have 
extended  to  a  depth  and  a  distance  about  which  I  was  for  a  time 
incredulous.     There  is  much  reason  to  fear  this  irrational  party  may 
have  power  enough  to  carry  the  presidential  chair  :  if  so,  I  really 
think  the  'mutes'  may  get  their  black  trappings  prepared  to-morrow 
for  the  funeral  of  the  Republic — a  catastrophe  prophesied  by   the 
member  of  South  Carolina  ;  and  I  fear  those   obsequies  may  not 
only  be  wept  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  but  that  they  may  be  followed 
by  a  civil  war.     There  seems  a  dearth  of  strong  men  in  the  Union — 
men  capable  of  taking  the  lead,  and  sufficiently  patriotic  to  sacrifice 
their  own  present  personal  interest  to  the  public  weal.     I  observe  a 
sad  spirit  of  corruption    and  of  self-seeking  among  the  younger 
men ;  and  I  also  see  that  fear  and  doubt  are  shaking  the  spirits  of 
the  elder  and  wiser  people.     No  one  seems  even  to  guess  what  will 
come  out  of  the  fermenting  process  which  the  commonest  observer 
must  see  at  work.     The  lees  have  risen  to  the  surface  ;  whether  they 
will  sink  again  to  the  bottom  of  the  political  chaldron  without  poi 
soning  the  life-blood  of  this  world-wide  community,  is  the  question 
seldom  uttered,  but   deeply  seated   in   the    minds  of  honest  and 
thoughtful  persons.     I  doubt  whether  this  mental  conflict  here  is 
not  more  alarming  than  the  external  and  physical  war  the  Allies 
have  to  wage  against  the  barbarism  of  the  North,  inasmuch  as  open 
enmity  is  better  than  secret  contention  ;  the  known  foe  can  be  met 
and  conquered,  but  a  concealed  antagonist  effects  his  mischief  upon 
unconscious  victims. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  XVI. 


WASHINGTON,      ) 
1S55.  f 


January  12, li 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  went  yesterday,  with  Mrs.  Seymour  and  Mrs.  Cristobel  de 
Madan,  to  hear  the  (almost  single)  Roman  Catholic  member,  Mr. 
Chandler,  speak  in  Congress,  for  the  purpose  of  repudiating  and 
denying  the  accusation  brought  against  his  co-religionists  by  Mr. 
Banks  of  Massachusetts  (one  of  the  advocates  of  the  '  Know-nothing1 
conspiracy),  which  asserted  that  they,  the  Roman  Catholics,  ac 
knowledge  a  temporal  jurisdiction  in  the  Papacy.  The  House  was 
at  first  occupied  by  a  motion,  made  by  some  member  from  the  South, 
for  increasing  the  allowance  to  foreign  ministers.  He  said,  the 
salaries  given  are  so  meagre,  that  it  is  difficult  to  induce  men  of 
talent  and  experience  to  undertake  missions,  and  therefore  the  affairs 
of  the  States  (in  Europe)  are  embroiled  and  mismanaged  by  a  set 
of  inferior  diplomatists.  I  am  not  enough  acquainted  with  the  pulse 
of  the  American  Congress  to  judge  how  this  proposition  was 
received ;  but  the  intense  and  respectful  attention  afforded  to  Mr. 
Chandler  I  thought  a  good  sign  of  generous  and  tolerant  feeling ; 
and  this  makes  me  hope  that  there  is  still  freedom  and  impartiality 
enough  in  the  Union  to  counteract  the  narrow  and  inconsistent 
opinions  of  Republican  bigotry.  Mr.  Chandler's  address  was  good, 
both  in  manner  and  matter:  it  was  well  worded,  calm,  logical,  and 
frank.  He  affirmed  most  solemnly,  that  so  far  from  believing  any 


EXTINCTION    OF    THE    TRIBES.  1 

right  could  be  assumed  by  the  Bishops  of  Rome  touching  upon 
political  allegiance,  he  and  all  other  good  Catholics  consider  the 
spiritual  rule,  which  they  willingly  admit,  as  quite  distinct  from  the 
temporal:  although  history  shows  that  temporal  rule  has  been 
exercised  by  Roman  pontiffs,  it  was  not  derived  from  the  Church 
itself,  but  from  the  Catholic  princes  of  Europe,  who  chose  to  delegate 
undue  power  to  the  Popes  of  those  times.  'And  if,'  said  Mr. 
Chandler,  '  the  Bishops  of  Rome  should  now,  or  at  any  future  time, 
invade  the  territory  of  this  Republic,  or  of  any  other  Protestant 
sovereignty,  Roman  Catholics  would  consider  themselves  bound  by 
every  principle,  divine  or  human,  to  oppose  and  repel  such  an  as 
sumption  of  temporal  power.'  The  Governor,  Mrs.  Seymour,  and  I 
dined  together  at  the  house  of  Governor  Hamilton  Fish,  Mr.  Seymour's 
predecessor  in  the  government  of  New  York  State.  I  had  a  great 
deal  of  conversation  with  him,  and  with  another  old  gentleman,  upon 
the  present  state  and  future  prospects  of  free  slaves.  They  were 
both  of  opinion  that  some  inherent  difference  of  race  *  is  the  cause 
that  the  black  people  die  out  and  become  extinct  in  one  or  two 
generations  after  the  attainment  of  freedom  and  of  amalgamation 
with  whites.  This  seems  to  be  a  universal  law.  Mr.  Fish  told  me 
that,  in  his  experience,  it  has  worked  so  rapidly,  that  his  family 
having  about  fifty  years  ago  freed  their  negroes,  though  at  the  same 
time  allowing  them  a  claim  for  aid  and  future  protection — letting 
them  have  the  cottages  and  the  ground  to  which  they  had  been 
accustomed — still,  under  these  advantageous  circumstances,  they 
have  gradually  dwindled  away  ;  and  though  Governor  Fish  considers 
the  remnant  almost  as  belonging  to  his  own  family,  and  they  apply 
to  him  for  advice  and  help  upon  all  occasions,  yet  not  above  five  or 
six  individuals  are  existing,  and  no  one  of  them  younger  than  sixty. 
I  accompanied  some  friends  to  the  evening  reception  of  Mrs.  Marcy, 
which  was  well  attended,  although  many  other  houses  were  also 
open  for  parties. 

Friday,  12tk. — A  fine  clear  day.    Mrs.  Hamilton  Fish  took  Mrs, 
Seymour  and  me  a  drive  to  the  heights  of  Georgetown ;   and  we 
also  called  on  Mrs.  Maury  at  the  Observatory.     It  is  in  a  beautiful 
9 


178  PRESIDENTIAL   EVENING. 

situation,  commanding  the  city  of  Washington,  and  also  long  reaches 
of  the  Potomac  each  way.  Lieutenant  Maury  took  us  up  to  the 
roof  of  the  building,  and  we  are  to  have  the  pleasure  of  a  visit  to  his 
observatory  next  week,  if  the  stars  will  be  favourable.  I  drank  tea 
out  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seymour,  and  afterwards  accompanied  their 
party  to  the  Presidential  evening  levee  (as  the  word  is  here  pro 
nounced),  to  which  all  classes  decently  attired  are  admitted.  We 
found  two  rooms  crowded,  but  the  company  perfectly  well  conducted 
and  orderly.  In  general  aspect,  I  was  reminded  of  an  entertainment 
given  by  a  London  City  Lord  Mayor  in  the  Guildhall.  We  returned 
to  the  hotel  by  eleven  o'clock. 

January  13. — I  received  a  file  of  Times  newspapers  to  the  23d 
of  last  month,  and  sat  up  nearly  all  night  to  read  them.  Sad  and 
heart-breaking  details ;  and  in  the  paper  of  latest  date,  an  article 
levelled  against  the  Ministry  and  all  the  employes  in  the  East,  so 
bitter  and  vituperative  in  style,  and  so  sweeping  in  accusation,  that 
it  tells  more  against  the  writers  than  in  condemnation  of  those 
written  against.  In  this  house  I  have  made  the  acquaintance  of 
three  distinguished  Generals  of  the  Republic  —  Scott,  Cass,  and 
Houston — all  massive-looking,  soldier-like  men.  After  a  fine  morn 
ing  the  afternoon  proved  wet,  so  that  I  could  not  sketch  or  go  to 
the  Observatory ;  but  Mrs.  Fish  was  so  kind  as  to  take  me  out  to 
pay  visits.  After  dinner,  there  was  an  evening  assembly  and  dancing 
for  the  young  people.  I  was  introduced  to  an  interesting  family, 
natives  of  New  Orleans.  They  spoke  English,  but  with  some  accent, 
their  own  tongue  being  French  ;  but  I  much  prefer  our  language  a 
little  broken  to  the  broad  and  often  nasal  pronunciation  of  New 
England  and  New  York.  The  Southern  people  have  pleasing  voices, 
and  are  much  less  provincial  in  their  speech  than  those  of  the  North 
ern  States. 

Sunday,  January  14. — A  blind  minister  preached  yesterday  at 
the  Congress  chapel.  I  should  have  heard  him,  but  the  service  was 
earlier  than  I  expected,  so  when  I  reached  Professor  Henry's,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Gray  were  gone.  A  cold  clear  day,  but  no  signs  of  ice.  Last 
night  I  saw  a  very  interesting  set  of  drawings  of  California  and  the 


OFFERS    OF    MARRIAGE.  179 

Rocky  Mountains,  belonging  to  a  gentleman  who  has  been  much  in 
the  Far  West.  He  confirmed  my  deductions  about  the  Mormonite 
domestic  polity,  having  frequently  conversed  with  the  women  of  that 
State.  The  ladies  are  not  shut  up  in  idleness  like  those  of  Eastern 
harems,  but  live  happily  together,  because  they  are  too  busy  to  quar 
rel.  One  woman  told  him — '  We  agree  well :  sister  Dolly  has  the 
cows ;  sister  Jenny,  the  children  ;  sister  Betty,  the  kitchen  ;  and  so 
on — all  have  plenty  to  do :  and  our  husband  is  bound  by  law  to 
support  and  take  equal  care  of  us ;  and  then  we  are  so  Hell-bent  on 
Heaven  !  Is  it  not  evident,  slavery  or  polygamy  is  the  product  of 
an  unnatural  attempt  after  equality?  I  shall  certainly  return  to 
England  more  strongly  imbued  with  attachment  to  our  orderly  insti 
tutions.  R has  had  offers  of  marriage  in  America;  but  she 

says, 'No,  1  will  never  marry  here — not  even  if  I  could  have  the 
very  President  himself.  Why,  in  England  I  may  have  my  own 
station,  and  I'm  content ;  but  in  America  I  should  never  know  what 
I  was.'  I  find  many  charming  people,  a  great  deal  that  is  interest 
ing,  and  much  that  is  instructive,  in  the  United  States ;  but  it  ap 
pears  to  me  that  only  the  fear  of  starvation  would  induce  an  English 
man  or  woman  to  fix  themselves  for  life  in  America.  '  In  whatever 
state  of  life  you  are,  therewith  to  be  content,'  is  a  lesson  which  can 
hardly  be  learned  this  side  the  Atlantic. 

January  16. — I  walked  up  early  yesterday  to  call  upon  Dr.  and 

Mrs.  B ;  he  and  Mr.  W brought  me  back,  and  Mrs.  Fish 

was  again  so  kind  as  to  come  and  convey  me  to  sketch  on  the 
Georgetown  heights.  And  then  she  waited  in  the  carriage  while 
I  paid  a  visit  to  tho  British  Minister,  who  is  confined  to  his  house 
owing  to  the  consequences  of  an  accident.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seymour 
and  I  had  a  pleasant  dinner  at  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Taloe's,  where  we  met 
General  Scott,  the  Mexican  and  French  Minister,  and  attache,  Judge 
Drew,  and  other  acquaintances.  At  this  house  is  one  of  the  pret 
tiest  Carlo  Dolces  I  ever  saw.  It  once  belonged  to  the  Duchesse  de 
Berri.  On  our  return,  Mr.  Blake,  the  geologist,  showed  us  beauti 
fully  crystallized  and  other  specimens  of  California!!  gold,  and  gave 
me  some  dust  of  Cuban  iron  pyrites  as  brilliant  as  diamonds. 


180  CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE    SOUTH. 

January  17.— Directly  after  breakfast  yesterday,  I  walked  up  to 
the  Observatory,  and  spent  two  hours  sketching  from  its  roof.     The 
views  are  fine  every  way,  particularly  up  the  Potomac  towards  that 
large  aqueduct  which  carries  a  canal   across  to  Georgetown.     I  saw 
Lieutenant  Maury,  and  agreed  with  him  that,  as  my  travels  must  be 
pursued  on  the  18th  as  far  as  Richmond,  Wednesday  evening  (stars 
or  no  stars)  we  must  spend  at  the  Observatory.     I  came  home  in 
time  to  dress  for  a  wedding,  when  I  found  a  pretty  bride  and  a 
cheerful  party ;  but  according  to  custom  in  the  reception-rooms  of 
this  country,  they  were  so  darkened  that  I  should  rather  have  sup 
posed  the  assembly  gathered  together  for  a  funeral  than  a  wedding, 
I  saw  a  great  deal  of  beauty,  although  of  one  particular  type.     Pro 
ceeding  towards  the  South,  I  find  the  manners  soften  as  well  as  the 
voice,  more  frankness  arid  cheerfulness,  the  rather  stiff  formality  of 
the  Northern  States  is  replaced  by  ease,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
young  people  are  merry  without  being  boisterous,  and  no  one  ob 
jects  to  those  games  and  amusements  which  the  spirit  of  the  puritan 
ical  times  has  handed  down  as  crimes  to  be  cast  aside  by  their  New 
England  descendants.     So  oftentimes  those  good  people  are  bored 
for  want  of  innocent  relaxation,  and  the  elderly  prefer  staying  by 
their  own  firesides  to  falling  asleep  in  public  for  want  of  occupation. 
There  is  certainly  an  odd  mixture  of  the  *  go-ahead '  and  the  in 
dolent  among  our  American  cousins,  which  is  exemplified  in  the  say 
ing,  that  such  a  man  '  is  running  a  sleepy  race,'  which  means  that 
his  adherents  are  pushing  him  forward  for  election  to  some  office, 
while  the  candidate  himself  remains  in  a  state  of  somnolent  indiffer 
ence  to  the  result.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seymour  took  me  to  a  place  which 
has  been  called  Calametta,  from  its  beautiful  and  sunny  view  of  the 
Potomac,  <fec.     We  found  it  a  pleasant,  comfortable  house,   with 
bright-coloured  peacocks  walking  about  in  the  wood  surrounding  it. 
I  dined  at  the  Secretary  of  State's  with  a  large  number  of  diplomatic 
gentlemen,  and  only  four  ladies  besides  myself.    The  French  Minister 
sat  by  Mrs.  Marcy,  and  I  had  Mr.  Marcy  on  one  side  and  the  Span 
ish  Minister  on  the  other.     The  dinner  could  not  be  otherwise  than 
agreeable.     The  Secretary  is  a  remarkably  frank,  agreeable  old  man, 
and  I  was  not  afraid  to  joke  him  a  little  about  his  republican  aver- 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


181 


sion  to  court  dresses.  I  found  out  the  whole  secret  afterwards.  ^  In 
his  drawing-room  there  is  an  interesting  picture,  painted  in  the  time 
of  Louis  XVI.,  of  the  King  and  Queen  sitting  in  their  circle,  while 
some  gay  ladies  of  the  Court  crown  Benjamin  Franklin  with  a 
wreath  of  laurel.  Franklin  is  uncontaminated  by  any  attire  more 
gay  than  his  Quaker-like  looking  habiliments  (though  it  seems  he 
was  occasionally  seduced  into  a  court  dress,  for  a  velvet  one  belong 
ing  to  him  is  still  preserved),  and  I  guess  the  ladies  around  him 
were  not  without  a  little  sly  triumph  of  their  own  on  the  occasion 
which  gave  rise  to  the  picture;  but  it  is  evident  to  me  that  scene 
was  not  one  of  a  public  reception,  for  no  gentleman  is  present  ex 
cepting  the  King.  Secretary  Marcy  was  (I  think)  sentimentally  led 
astray  in  his  crusade  against  European  finery  by  this  picture.  I 
don't  the  least  believe  (an  accusation  I  have  heard  here)  that  his 
motive  was  to  curry  favour  with  the  American  public,  who  may 
imagine  an  ugly  coat  and  republicanism  synonymous  terms.  He  is 
a  downright  honest  man,  if  ever  I  saw  one ;  and  with  all  his  talents 
and  knowledge  of  the  American  world,  upon  the  subject  of  European 
dress,  he  was  much  more  likely  to  err  from  simplicity  than  design. 
My  neighbour  on  the  other  side  could  only  express  himself  in  French 
and  Spanish,  and  as  the  Secretary  confines  himself  to  plain  English 
as  well  as  plain  coats,  the  Spanish  Minister  is  frequently  obliged  to 
have  recourse  to  an  interpreter,  which,  in  a  delicate  diplomatic  con 
ference,  he  thinks  is  inconvenient. 

I  was  introduced  to  the  Dutch  Minister,  who  speaks  English  like 
a  native.  The  Prussian  looked  quiet  and  neutral ;  the  French, 
anxious  and  incredulous.  Mr.  Crampton  was  prevented  by  his 
accident  from  joining  the  party,  a  circumstance  generally  regretted, 
for  no  one  is  more  popular  in  the  diplomatic  circle.  None  of  the 
second  grade  were  present — only  Ministers  and  their  attaches.  Mr. 
Marcy  told  me  he  could  not  receive  the  whole  corps  together,  and 
therefore  he  takes  the  first  rank  with  their  belongings  at  one  dinner, 
and  others  separate.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seymour,  having  dined  else 
where,  came  to  take  me  home,  and  joined  the  party  for  a  short 
time. 


182  RICHMOND. 

Richmond,  Virginia,  January  18. — I  have  just  arrived  at  this 
place  ;  but,  before  writing  of  our  journey  here,  the  conclusion  of  my 
stay  at  Washington  must  be  told.  Wednesday,  I  breakfasted  with 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  B .  my  friends  of  the  White  Mountains.      The 

Judge  and  Mrs.  Maclean,  and  Mr.  P ,  a  member  of  Congress, 

were  of  the  party — it  was  very  pleasant.  Mrs.  Maclean  walked 
back  with  me  as  far  as  Professor  Henry's,  where  I  went  to  see  Dr.  and 

Mrs.  Gray;  and,  before  going  home,  I  had  to  go  to  Mrs.  S ,  the 

artist.  She  has  made  a  slight  sketch  of  Longfellow  for  me.  On 
my  return  to  the  hotel,  T  had  much  to  do ;  separating  wardrobe, 
books,  and  natural  history  accumulations,  to  be  forwarded  to  Boston: 
my  acquisitions  increase  like  a  rolling  snow-ball ;  and  from  all  the 
principal  stopping-places  during  my  travels,  I  send  off  packages  to 

Mr.  L 's  care.     At  Washington,  bouquets  are  general  in  full 

costume  ;  they  are  always  made  up  by  the  gardeners,  but  hardly  ever 
consist  of  any  other  flowers  than  Camelias,  Canarinas,  Heliotropes, 
Steevias,  and  violets,  with  the  berries  of  Ardisia  crenulata,  and  the 
feathery  foliage  of  Lycopodium  dendroides.  I  received  two  beau 
tiful  ones  this  afternoon  from  gentlemen ;  a  sweet  bunch  of  geranium 
and  Neapolitan  violets  was  given  me  by  a  young  Cuban  lady ;  and 
I  had  a  white  Camelia,  also,  from  Miss  Seymour.  Mrs.  Seymour 
dined  at  home  with  me,  and  at  six  o'clock  Mrs.  Fish  called,  to  con 
vey  us  to  the  Observatory,  accompanied  by  Judge  Drew  and  Mr. 
Miller.  The  stars  shone  brightly — the  finest  show  of  them  I  have 
yet  seen  in  America.  Lieutenant  Maury  took  us  up  to  the  telescope 
directly  on  our  arrival.  We  had  a  good  view  of  a  spangled  bit  of 
sky  in  Perseus,  not  visible  to  the  naked  eye.  Sirius  appeared  like  a 
tuft  of  blue,  red,  and  gold  feathers,  waving  in  the  heavens ;  Saturn's 
globe  and  ring  perfectly  clear  and  distinct;  and  the  belt  and  five 
geometrical-looking  stars  of  Orion  very  bright.  After  our  eyes  and 
minds  were  fatigued  by  these  marvels,  we  went  in  to  drink  tea 
with  Mrs.  Maury,  and  then  returned  to  town  to  attend  Mr.  Outline's 
reception,  where  I  took  leave  of  the  Grays,  the  Quaker  lady  of 
Philadelphia,  General  Scott,  Mr.  Maury,  and  many  others  who  have 
been  kind  to  me  at  Washington.  We  returned  home  to  the 


UNPLEASANT   INCIDENTS.  183 

dancing-party  at  Willard's,  and  found  it  crowded.     I  said  good-bye 
to  many  friends  there  ;   and  upon  getting  up  at  six  next  morning  to 

depart,  I  found  Mr.  P and  Mr.  M ,  both  ready  to  see  us  safe 

on  board  the  steamer  ;  they  accompanied  us  to  the  Potomac ;  it  was 
quite  dark,  and  their  company  was  very  cheering.     A  fine  sunrise  on 
the  magnificent  river,  and  after  a  very  calm  and  successful  passage  of 
fifty-five  miles,  we  found  the  railroad  cars  at  Acquia  Creek ;  the  dis 
tance  to  Richmond  was  about  seventy  miles ;  weather  continued  bright, 
warm,  and  sunshiny.     I  felt  the  influence  of  a  southern  atmosphere, 
and  the  journey  would  have  been  pleasant  if  I  had  had  pleasanter 
neighbours  in  the  car;  but  just  before  me  was  a  being  who  called 
himself  the  American  Dwarf:  he  was  about  two  feet  high,  with  fin- 
like  hands,  and  a  head  nearly  as  large  as  his  contorted  body :  and, 
on  my  right  a  negro  woman,  in  face  resembling  an  ourang-outang, 
who  gloried  in  a  fancy   straw  bonnet,  trimmed  with  white,  with 
artificial  roses  surrounding  her  black  muzzle.     She  became  dread 
fully  sea,  or  rather  rail-sick,  and  my  window  being  open,  although 
there  was  another  on  her  side,  she  constantly  leaned  across  me  to 
take  possession  of  mine ;   at  last  a  gentlemanly-looking  young  man, 
who  I  conclude  was  her  master,  came  to  my  rescue,  and  throwing 
open  a  window  behind,  he  said  a  few  words  which  made  her  keep 
to  her  own  locality.     This  improved  my  immediate  circumstances  ; 
but  in  a  few  minutes  afterwards  we  were  brought  to  a  standstill,  and 
looking  out,  saw  a  dreadful  accident.     Either  from  intoxication  or 
insanity,  a   fine-looking  young   man,  apparently  not   more   than 
twenty-three,  had  placed  himself  on  the  rail  just  at  a  curve,  so  that 
the  engineer  had  no  time  to  pull  up,  though  he  did  his  best ;  the 
poor  wretch  was  cut  in  two,  and   expired   immediately.     All  the 
people  evinced  great  feeling  and  kindness  ;  the  corpse  of  the  poor 
stranger  was  taken  up,  and  we  proceeded.     I  found  the  Exchange  a 
comfortable  hotel,  and  the  sister  of  Dr.  Gibson  of  Baltimore,  soon 
came  to  me  with  her  married  daughter  :  they  took  me  to  their  home, 

and  I  passed  a  pleasant  evening,  Mr.  J being  so  kind  as   to 

walk  back  at  night  with  me  through  the  still  and  unfrequented 
streets.     There  was  hardly  a  sound  until  that  usual  occurrence,  a 


184  STATUE    OF    WASHINGTON. 

peal  of  fire  bells,  broke  the  quiet.  I  have  never  been  in  any  town 
in  the  United  States  without  hearing  such  alarms.  At  Richmond  it 
is  not  uncommon  to  have  two  or  three  fires  a  night,  and  these  fires 
are  usually  the  work  of  incendiaries ;  wooden  houses  are  so  easily 
set  in  a  blaze,  that  boys  for  mischief,  and  thieves  for  plunder,  slily 
ignite  them. 

January  20.— I  saw  a  great  deal  of  this  pretty  town ;  if  it  had 
the  castle  and  the  ancient  buildings  of  Edinburgh,  it  would  resem 
ble  that  city,  the  Powhatan  River  taking  the  place  of  the  Forth. 

Mrs.  J took  us  across  the  valley  to  cketch  towards  the  east,  and 

I  made  a  drawing  of  the  locality  round  Washington's  monument, 
the  various  steeples,  towers,  &c.,  with  the  Capitol,  a  pleasing  Gre 
cian  building,  capping  and  overlooking  the  city,  and  the  surrounding 
country.  Under  the  centre  of  the  dome,  inside  that  building,  I  saw 
the  best  statue  of  Washington  in  the  whole  Union,  by  Houdier :  it 
is  said  to  be  a  good  likeness,  and,  as  a  work  of  art,  it  is  most  inter 
esting.  I  could  not  have  believed  that  the  stiff  costume  of  that  time 
could  have  been  so  idealized.  The  General  stands  in  an  easy  atti 
tude,  leaning  upon  a  bunch  of  fascines — the  very  buttons  on  his 
coat,  and  the  high  top-boots,  &c.  &c.,  are  all  indicated,  and  yet  there 
is  no  lack  of  grace,  no  appearance  of  formality,  in  this  very  fine 
statue.  Strange  to  say,  an  air  of  neglect  and  dilapidation  is  visible 
all  round  it ;  the  interior  of  the  building  is  sadly  out  of  repair ;  the 
doors  want  paint,  and  all  is  dirty  and  quite  unworthy  of  the  best 
public  building  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  the  House  of  Legislature 
and  of  business.  Perhaps  a  few  years  will  dissipate  financial  diffi 
culties,  which  have  been  brought  on  by  an  extravagant  railway 
expenditure ;  it  will,  probably,  repay  the  citizens  in  due  time,  and 
then  they  may  be  enabled  to  wipe  off  the  disgrace  of  shabbiness 
which  at  present  hangs  over  their  proceedings. 

Mrs.  G called  for  a  handsome  agreeable  lady,  who  accom 
panied  us  during  the  rest  of  our  drive.  They  took  me  to  the  Ceme 
tery,  beautifully  situated,  and  from  thence  I  made  a  general  sketch 
of  Richmond,  with  its  crowning  Capitol,  Powhatan  River  (undigni 
fied  by  the  modern  name  of  James),  and  a  foreground  of  better 


CHARLOTTESVILLE. 


trees  than  I  bad  yet  seen  in  America.     In  this  place  are  many 
pretty  hollies,  with  red  berries  like  ours,  but  with  leaves  opaque 
instead  of  shining  ;   and  before  going  home  we  called  at  a  nursery- 
ground,  where   there  was  nothing  new  to  me,  excepting^  a  shrub 
which,  though  now  leafless,  has  bunches  of  small  lilac  berries.  ^  The 
gentleman  did  not  know  what  country  it  came  from,  or  the  tribe  to 
which  it  belongs.     Indeed,  he  told  me,  so  little  interest  is  shown  for 
flowers  in  this  part  of  the  world,  that  since  he  came  here  from  Scot 
land,  he  has  rather  lost  than  gained  in  botanical  and  floral  acquire 
ment.     I  declined  an  invitation  to  dine  at  threir o'clock;  such  early 
hours  at  this  time  of  year  shorten  the  already  shortened  days.    After 
returning  to  the  hotel  for  the  purpose  of  writing  to  Washington,  I 
made  my  way  alone  across  the  river  by  a  very  long  wooden  bridge. 
On  the  other  side  I  passed  voluminous  houses,  which  I  was  told 
were  flour  and  cotton  mills ;   beyond  them  the  view  of  Richmond 
was  fine.    A  brilliant  sunset  reminded  me  that  there  is  little  twilight 
here,  and  so  I  feared  that  I  should  hardly  find  my  way  in  the  dark 

to  Mrs.  G 's,  where  tea  awaited  me.     After  some  wanderings  I 

reached  her  house  before  a  very  young  moon  had  disappeared,  and 

from  thence  I  joined  a  small  party  at  Mrs.  M 's. 

January  21.— Our  cars  left  Richmond  at  seven  this  morning, 
and  the  sun  rose  so  red  that  I  fear  he  promises  rain.  We  reached 
Charlottesville  soon  after  twelve,  and  passed  through  a  very  pretty 
country,  which  requires  nothing  but  animal  life  and  industry  to 
make  it  charming.  The  absence  of  fencing  to  the  railroads  at  once 
speaks  of  scanty  flocks  and  herds;  for,  if  these  were  not  few  and  far 
between,  the  owners  would  insist  upon  precautionary  measures.  As 
it  is,  cows  and  sheep  are  occasionally  killed  by  the  trains ;  but  when 
not  more  than  fifty  beasts  can  be  seen  in  as  many  miles,  the  risk  is 
not  great.  To-day  we  passed  along  a  rolling*  district,  affording 
every  promise  of  a  grateful  return  to  energetic  and  industrious  cul 
tivation.  Yet  I  saw  ploughs  worked  by  a  single  horse,  which  did 
little  more  than  scratch  the  surface,  and  a  rich  soil  beneath  was 

*  The  common  expression  in  America  for  an  undulating  country. 
9* 


186  ROAD    TO    STAUNTON. 

only  brought  to  light  by  the  course  of  the  railroad.  Passing  rapidly 
along,  I  observed  much  iron  sand,  excellent  slate,  volcanic  rocks, 
gneiss,  greenstone,  quartz,  plenty  of  water,  a  natural  growth  of  oak 
and  chestnut,  and  I  have  little  doubt  but  that  mineral  riches  are 
below.  An  English  farmer  who  could  bring  free  labour  with  him 
here  might  quickly  make  his  fortune.  The  slave  servants  look  gen 
erally  well  clothed,  merry,  and  content ;  but  of  farm  labour  they 
have  evidently  but  small  knowledge ;  and  a  general  population, 
either  white  or  black,  seems  scanty.  Upon  arriving  at  the  small 
town  of  Charlottesville,  I  was  sorry  to  find  that  Mr.  Stevenson,  the 
former  Minister  to  England,  was  absent  from  his  house,  a  few  miles 
distant.  At  the  University,  however,  I  was  most  kindly  welcomed 
by  the  Professor  and  Mrs.  Minor ;  he  and  Professor  Maupiii  showed 
me  the  buildings,  and  an  extensive  view  from  the  roof  of  the  dome. 
This  educational  establishment  was  founded  by  Jefferson.  It  is 
ruled  by  nine  trustees,  who  are  newly  appointed  every  four  years  by 
the  incoming  President  of  the  United  States  ;  and  it  has  this  pecu 
liarity — that  the  governing  head  of  the  institution  is  changed  every 
two  years.  There  is  no  professor  of  Natural  History  in  any  of  its 
branches,  and  no  teacher  of  Chemistry,  either  agricultural  or  medi 
cal  ;  so  that  one  cannot  much  wonder  that  ignorance  respecting  the 
soils  and  the  mineral  riches  of  this  State  should  be  evident,  even  to 
an  unpractised  eye.  We  slept  at  a  clean  and  reasonable  hotel ;  I 
walked  up  in  a  heavy  shower  of  rain,  through  red  mud  (much  like 
that  of  Torquay  in  Devonshire),  to  tte  college,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  leave,  and  got  into  the  cars  by  twelve  o'clock.  After  about 
fifty  miles'  journey,  passing  over  mountains  consisting  of  gneiss, 
greenstone,  slaty  rocks,  and  limestone,  we  reached  Staunton  by  a 
wonderful  line  of  road :  the  last  part  was  engineered  up,  and 
ploughed  like  a  deep  furrow  along  the  side  of  a  mountain,  to  the 
very  summit,  and  then  down  again  to  the  plain  below.  The  mak 
ing  of  this  line  was  ordered  and  superintended  by  the  same  German 
engineer  who  planned  and  is  erecting  the  suspension  bridge  from 
one  shore  of  Niagara  to  the  other,  with  a  passage  for  railroad  cars 
above  the  carriage  road.  From  what  I  saw  to-day,  my  faith  in 


LEXINGTON.  187 

the  success  of  that  bridge  is  almost  un doubting.  We  find  the  Vir 
ginian  Hotel  here  comfortable,  and  the  country  we  came  through 
to-day  must  be  very  picturesque ;  but  rain  and  fog  prevented  our 
seeino-  more  than  half  a  mile  from  the  cars.  Staunton  is  rather  a 

o 

pretty  town  :  as  we  entered,  I  saw  a  handsome  building  for  an  asy 
lum  for  the  blind,  and  I  was  told  there  are  several  other  large  char 
itable  establishments. 

January  22. — Violent  rain,  storm,  and  wind  during  the  night. 
We  got  up  to  proceed  by  the  mail  stage,  which  started  at  five  o'clock, 
more  punctually  than  is  usual  in  America  ;  and  the  bills  here  and 
at  Charlottesville  were  fair  and  reasonable — not  a  third  of  what  we 
have  paid  elsewhere.  The  charges  have  varied  from  two  dollars  to 
eight  dollars  a  day  ;  they  are  never  more  reasonable  than  in  some 
parts  of  England,  sometimes  dearer  than  the  hotels  of  London  and 
Paris.  With  four  horses,  and  only  four  persons  in  the  coach,  we 
did  not  reach  Lexington  till  after  one  o'clock.  At  first,  the  master 
of  the  tavern  made  some  difficulty  about  procuring  us  a  carriage  to 
go  on  seventeen  miles  to  the  Natural  Bridge ;  but  after  a  little  demur, 
we  got  one  so  as  to  start  by  half-past  two.  Lexington  is  a  small 
town,  not  very  picturesque  in  itself,  but  standing  in  a  plain  with  fine 
mountains  all  round  at  a  few  miles'  distance — the  nearest,  a  flat-top 
ped  massive-looking  hill,  is  called  by  people  here  "  The  House." 
There  are  no  Indians  in  all  this  part  of  the  country,  and  even  their 
beautiful  names  have  been  forgotten,  and  have  given  place  to  such 
Cockney  appellations  as  James  River,  Louisa  Court,  Charlottesville, 
&c.  &c.  There  are  many  signs  of  hard  frost  on  the  road,  which  was 
tolerable  as  far  as  Buchanan ;  planks  were  laid  for  that  distance. 
When  we  turned  off  into  the  valley,  about  four  miles  from  the  rocky 
bridge,  our  carriage  was  much  tried  ;  the  horses  floundered  along  the 
brink  of  a  precipice,  our  driver  calling  to  us  to  throw  our  weight 
now  upon  one  side,  now  on  the  other,  to  keep  a  balance.  At  one 
time  within  half  a  foot  of  deep  water,  where,  in  case  of  being  over 
turned,  we  must  have  been  drowned,  if  we  had  escaped  being 
smashed  in  the  fall ;  at  another,  with  a  descent  of  three  hundred  feet, 
witbouj:  J;he  smallest  guard  upon  our  right.  J3ut  our  Irish  coadh- 


188  THE  NATURAL  BRIDGE. 

man  was  civil  and  expert;  be  assured  me  lie  would  not  have  any 
thing  happen  to  us  for  fifty  dollars,  and  happily,  both  traces  breaking 
within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  our  destination,  I  scrambled  out  of  the 

vehicle,  rejoiced  to  find  my  feet  once  more,  leaving  K to  take 

care  of  the  vehicle,  while  the  driver  went  back  to  pick  up  the  scat 
tered  boxes.  I  made  my  way  on,  with  the  help  of  a  bright  young 
moon,  to  the  first  little  hotel  (there  is  another,  near  the  Bridge).  It 
was  a  rough  place  ;  but  I  was  hospitably  received,  and  the  master's 
son,  with  a  negro  servant,  set  off  to  aid  and  guide  the  carriage 
through  a  track  which  had  appeared  to  me  in  some  places  wholly 
impracticable  for  anything  on  wheels.  However,  fortunately,  it  was 

too  dark  for  R to  see  danger,  and  the  three  men  guided  her  on 

safely  in  about  two  hours,  much  to  the  relief  of  my  mind.  No  other 
catastrophe  occurred,  excepting  that  some  of  my  boxes,  which  had 
been  shaken  off,  were  considerably  mauled,  and  I  hardly  felt  this  as 
a  misfortune,  in  consideration  of  our  own  safety.  The  good  people 
did  their  best  to  feed  and  warm  us,  but  as  their  house  is  little  pre 
pared  for  winter  visitors,  and  this  night  a  frost  occurred,  seldom 
known  in  Virginia — in  spite  of  a  blazing  wood  fire,  and  a  blanket 
hung  up  over  our  door,  the  water  in  the  jugs  and  basins  was  frozen 
before  daylight.  However,  I  was  glad  to  find  that  by  rising  very  early 
there  would  be  time  to  see  and  sketch  the  wonderful  Natural  Bridge, 
and  to  reach  the  canal,  two  miles'  distance,  by  ten  o'clock.  Most 
fortunately,  the  steamboat  goes  down  to-morrow,  otherwise  we  might 
have  been  detained  till  Thursday  in  Lynchburg. 

January  24. — After  all  that  has  been  said  in  praise  of  the 
Natural  Bridge,  I  was  not  disappointed  :  the  chasm  over  which  it 
passes  is  narrower  at  the  bottom  than  at  the  top :  beginning  at  fifty 
feet,  it  gradually  widens  to  near  a  hundred,  and  is  about  two  hun 
dred  and  ninety  feet  in  height,  while  the  way  over  the  top  may  be 
about  twenty  or  thirty  in  width,  guarded  by  natural  walls  of  rock, 
and  covered  by  five  feet  of  soil,  made  firm  and  bound  together  by 
trees  and  shrubbery.  The  small  stream  it  crosses  is  called  Cedar 
Creek,  which,  like  all  the  rivers  of  this  district,  is  as  turbid  and  as 
muddy-looking  as  the  Ouse,  in  Bedfordshire.  The  rich  soils  of  these 


SCENERY    ON    THE    POWHATAN.  189 

lands  are  borne  down  by  all  these,  waters,  to  fertilize  neglected  or 
worn-out  farms  in  distant  places.  Looking  at  this  bridge  from  a 
short  distance,  it  has  a  magnificent  appearance,  and  no  one  would 
guess  Nature  to  have  been,  her  own  architect.  The  arch  is  finely 
formed :  over  its  centre  the  rock  is  chiselled  into  the  appearance  of 
a  deep-set  window,  and  on  one  side  it  seems  as  if  supported  by  a 
gigantic  buttress,  backed  by  mountains  and  set  in  a  framework  of 
verdure.  Summer  must  render  this  bridge  still  more  beautiful ;  but 
its  grandeur  can  even  now  be  well  appreciated.  I  engaged  our 
driver  and  carriage  of  last  evening  to  take  us  to  the  place  where  the 
Lynchburg  steamer  calls — most  fortunately — for  no  conveyance  large 
enough  for  luggage  could  now  have  been  hired.  Fine  mountainous 
and  glorious  forest  views  extend  the  whole  way  down  the  Powhatan. 
I  was  reminded  of  some  parts  of  Germany ;  but  the  scenery  of  this 
river  far  exceeds  that  of  the  Rhine,  though  the  water  has  not  equal 
clearness  or  volume,  and  these  mountains  are  not  ornamented  by 
ruined  castles.  Of  the  Rocky  Bridge  I  have  often  heard  ;  but  nei 
ther  books  nor  travellers,  familiar  to  me,  have  spoken  of  these  forty 
miles  of  scenery  passed  through  by  a  canal,  which  sometimes  travels 
by  one  shore,  then  takes  to  the  river,  and  once  crosses  over  it  to  the 
other  side.  We  passed  at  least  twenty  locks,  going  easily  and  plea 
santly  ;  our  speed  averaged  about  four  miles  an  hour — quite  fast 
enough,  for  I  had  time  to  sketch  and  to  enjoy  the  beautiful 
scenery,  instead  of  being  steamed  along  too  rapidly  for  either  plea 
sure.  A  warm  sun  befriended  us,  and,  though  the  air  was  rather 
cold,  it  was  clear  and  still,  so  that  with  an  occasional  visit  to  the 
cabin  to  warm  my  hands,  I  was  able  to  sit  all  day  on  deck ;  and 
this  passage  proved  one  of  the  most  agreeable  and  least  tedious  of 
all  I  have  had,  though  it  occupied  nine  hours.  Some  of  the  valleys 
traversing  this  mountain  region  are  suspected  to  be  rich  in  minerals 
and  precious  stones,  which  is  very  probable.  From  signs  I  observed 
on  the  blue  ridge  which  we  mounted  by  the  railroad,  greenstone 
passes  into  limestone ;  mica,  slate,  and  granite  frequently  appear, 
though  I  am  not  enough  of  a  geologist  to  be  able  to  mark  and 
describe  their  exact  locations.  Beautifully  white  gypsum  was  placed 


190  LINKS    CANAL-BOAT. 

in  heaps  by  the  river-side  where  we  first  embarked  on  board  the 
canal  boat,  but  no  one  could  tell  me  from  whence  ;  I  saw  star-look 
ing  dark  spots,  as  large  as  a  shilling,  in  one  mass,  having  almost  the 
appearance  of  fossils,  though  I  conclude  they  must  have  been  some 
modification  of  talc.  There  was  no  time  to  get  any  knocked  off; 
and,  as  people  here  consider  attention  to  stones  or  flowers  a  very 
childish  proceeding,  it  is  difficult  to  gain  their  attention  to  such  ob 
jects.  About  half-way  down  the  river  there  is  a  large  manufactory 
of  cement  made  from  a  limestone  which  contains  iron  and  aluminous 
matter.  This  is  burned,  then  powdered,  and  put  into  barrels,  which 
are  sold  for  one  dollar  each.  This  is  not  the  sole  manufactory : 
there  are  other  localities  in  the  State  of  New  York  where  it  is  made 
— towards  the  north,  I  suppose.  This  is  the  most  firm  and  durable 
thing  known  for  cementing  stones  together :  it  seems  to  become 
part  and  parcel  of  their  very  substance.  An  obliging  gentleman  on 
board  procured  me  a  specimen  of  the  limestone  in  its  natural  state, 
and  also  before  it  is  ground  after  burning. 

Daylight  had  quite  faded  away  before  we  landed  here ;  the  cap 
tain  provided  us  with  such  an  excellent  dinner  of  turkey,  roast  beef, 
and  cranberry  tart,  with  common  potatoes,  sweet  potatoes,  fine  celery, 
and  glasses  of  sweet  milk,  that  we  were  in  no  starving  condition ; 
and  I  recommend  the  Links  canal-boat  as  one  of  the  most  pleasur 
able  conveyances  I  ever  entered,  though  it  has  no  gorgeous  saloon 
or  even  railed  deck.  The  black  cook,  seeing  me  draw,  came  to  beg 
'  missus  would  make  his  picture  for  his  ole  wifej  which  undertaking 
was  accomplished  to  our  mutual  content,  Darky  having  evidently  no 
vanity  to  wound.  I  cannot  always  tell  whether  these  black  servants 
are  free  or  slaves — probably  the  latter.  They  are  merry,  good- 
natured,  and  easy  in  their  manner ;  familiar,  but  in  a  much  pleasanter 
way  than  the  helps  of  the  Northern  States,  who  mistake  an  imper 
tinent  manner  for  republicanism,  and  speak  as  if  they  thought  them 
selves  injured  by  serving  you. 

On  my  arrival  at  this,  the  '  Noble  Hotel,'  a  black  chambermaid 
took  charge  of  us,  and,  though  the  bed-room  felt  warm,  she  insisted 
on  lighting  a  fire,  for  fear  *  missus  should  be  cold.'  *  Pray,  missu*, 


PETERSBURG.  191 

have  fire ;  don't  think  of  trouble,  missus — don't  mind  trouble.' 
Some  of  these  blacks  are  officiously  anxious  to  oblige,  and  this  with 
out  any  motive  of  interest,  as  far  as  I  can  judge.  We  leave  this 
place  at  half-past  nine  for  Petersburg ;  stay  there  to-night,  and  next 
day  go  to  Wilmington  by  steamboat,  I  believe,  and  then  to  Charles 
ton  on  Friday  or  Saturday,  I  hope. 

Petersburg.  Wednesday  Evening. — We  left  Lynchburg  at  nine 
this  morning.  As  far  as  I  can  judge,  it  is  a  pretty  place,  and  the 
views  nearly  all  the  way  upon  the  railroad  are  fine.  The  country, 
Devonian  in  rocks  and  scenery ;  I  could  have  fancied  myself  near 
Haldon  Hill,  it  is  so  like  the  neighbourhood  of  Exeter,  part  of  the 
way :  the  soil  as  red  and  the  land  equally  rich-looking,  but  certainly 
not  as  well  cultivated,  or  rendered  as  productive  by  good  farming. 
At  Petersburg  we  crossed  the  Appomattox  river,  which  falls  into 
the  Powhatan  twelve  miles  below  that  place.  Petersburg  is  evi 
dently  a  growing  town.  I  suppose  the  numerous  railroads  which 
now  traverse  Virginia  will  quickly  stir  up  the  inhabitants,  and  make 
them  aware  that  their  State,  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  has 
also  capabilities  which  might  render  it  the  most  rich  and  thriving. 
We  came  over  the  highest  viaduct  I  ever  crossed,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet !  I  was  so  terrified  that  I  could  not  look  out  for  giddi 
ness:  it  is  built  on  piles;  the  engineer  who  planned  it  and  the 
bridges  over  the  Powhatan  at  Lynchburg,  was  in  the  cars,  and  as 
sured  us  of  safety;  but  it  was  difficult  to  feel  at  ease  during  the 
transit.  We  reached  this  place  before  five,  and  I  intend  to  leave  it 
by  the  train  at  three  o'clock  to-morrow  morning,  for  Wilmington. 

Thursday,  January  25. — We  reached  Wilmington  by  eight 
o'clock  this  evening,  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  nearly  all  the  way 
through  pine  barrens,  which  are  not  barren  of  turpentine  and  tar ; 
these  products  are  extracted  from  the  pitch  pines.  There  are  many 
large  manufactories  to  procure  them ;  the  trees  have  the  bark  taken 
off  about  ten  feet  up  on  one  side,  and  vessels  are  placed  to  catch  the 
turpentine.  When  this  is  exhausted,  the  trees  are  cut  down,  sawed 
into  lengths,  and  placed  in  circles,  with  a  fire  in  the  centre,  much  in 
the  way  charcoal  is  made;  but  as  the  tar  comes  out  it  is  made  to 


192  MR.    CUSHINQ    ON    THE    WAR. 

run  into  pipes,  and  the  wood  when  exhausted  is  covered  over,  and 
becomes  charcoal.  From  Petersburg,  the  whole  country  consists  of 
poor  sands  and  clay,  like  part  of  Hampshire  and  the  adjoining-  bit  of 
Dorset.  The  sand  during  the  greater  part  of  the  way  is  as  white  as 
that  around  Bournemouth.  Not  far  from  a  place  called  Golds- 
borough,  a  colony  of  Irish  appear  to  be  comfortably  settling  them 
selves  ;  what  they  cultivate  I  cannot  judge,  passing  rapidly,  at  this 
time  of  year ;  they  seemed  healthy  and  well  clothed  ;  and  I  observed 
pigs  of  all  ages,  and  several  cows.  It  was  a  pleasant  sight  to  see 
these  poor  people  making  the  wilderness  a  springing  well,  and  the 
barren  land  rich.  I  should  like  to  bring  all  the  'Know-nothings'  of 
the  country  to  look  at  them.  I  am  told  this  faction  abounds  in  the 
South ;  it  is  evident  there  are  men  guiding  this  movement  who 
ought  to  know  better ;  but  some  are  making  political  profit  of  the 
ignorance  and  mistaken  patriotism  of  their  weaker  neighbours,  and 
hope  to  attain  power  by  such  means.  I  am  sorry  to  find  a  consider 
able  party  in  the  United  States  advocate  openly  the  principle  of 
'  doing  evil  that  good  may  come,'  as  regards  their  own  country ;  and 
Mr.  Gushing,  the  Attorney-General  of  the  States,  informed  me  with 
out  circumlocution,  speaking  of  the  European  war,  that  the  Turks 
being  effete,  and  a  sea-board  being  necessary  for  the  Russians,  it  was 
perfectly  right  and  proper  that  the  latter  should  devour  the  former. 
If  it  be  possible  for  republicans  to  be  in  the  pay  of  despotism,  I 
should  imagine  this  gentleman  must  be  one  of  the  favoured  emissa 
ries  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  After  passing  through  the  rich,  ill- 
cultivated  Highlands  of  Virginia,  it  is  curious  to  observe  how  much 
more  is  comparatively  drawn  from  the  unthankful  soil  we  passed 
through  to-day ;  half  this  care  and  industry  bestowed  upon  the 
former  would  be  returned  tenfold.  I  observed  some  few  Rhodo 
dendrons  and  Kalmias  upon  the  blue  ridge,  as  we  descended  by  that 
wonderful  railroad ;  and  for  fifty  miles,  as  we  approached  this  place, 
the  undergrowth  was  rich  in  all  those  showy  evergreens  we  call 
American.  On  the  trees  I  saw  bunches  of  an  Epiphyte,  growing 
like  our  mistletoe,  and  the  long  hair-like  lichen,  or  parasitical  plant, 
I  have  so  often  heard  described  as  clothing  the  woods  in  the  South ; 


1  Q^ 
BLACK   SERVANTS. 

it  covered  ami  hung  round  many  trees  I  saw  in  a  swamp  this  after 
noon      I  am  much  amused  with  the  '  Blackies,'  who  act  as  chamber- 
maids  everywhere  now ;  they  quite  take  possession  of  us,  remain  m 
the  room  sans  ceremonie,  and  are  officious  andcunous  beyond  belief. 
One  watched  me  drawing  to-night  with  great  astonishment;  she 
said  she  had  'never  seen  any  one  do  that  before;  how  can  you 
make  marks  that  look  like  places  2    You  must  have  a  clever  head ! 
I  beK<red  for  snuffers,  a  tallow  candle  having  a  long  nose         >n,  i 
does  that  with  my  fingers ;  but  I'll  find  you  an  old  pair  of  sc.ssors 
When  we  asked  for  some  warm  water,  she  thought  the  reques  very 
extraordinary,  and  burst  into  a  hoarse  laugh.     They  certa,nly  are 
very  unlike  the  white  race;  but  everybody  seems  good-natured  to 
them:  they  come  into  the  cars  and  sit  where  they  please 
none  of  the  white  exclusiveness  I  had  been  taught  to  expect. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


*r* 
"*  ^jr   * 


t*  l£      ^  ^  ^ 


LETTER  XVII. 


CHARLESTON,  January  7, 1855. 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

The  post  for  England  went  off  to-day  unexpectedly  ;  I  bad 
only  a  few  minutes  warning,-  and  no  time  to  look  at  my  letter,  so 
that  I  forget  whether  I  wrote  last  from  Petersburg ;  but  as  we 
reached  Wilmington  too  late  at  night,  and  started  too  early  to  see 
anything  of  that  place,  I  could  not  have  said  much  about  it.  White 
sand  and  pine  barrens  made  up  the  whole  two  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  of  yesterday's  journey.  It  required  twenty-two  hours'  railroad 
to  accomplish  that  distance.  Almost  all  the  pitch  pines  are  dis 
figured,  and  most  probably  will  be  killed,  by  the  bark  being  stripped 
off,  that  the  turpentine  may  drip  from  it  into  a  small  vessel  placed 
on  the  ground.  The  forest  looks  as  if  it  was  planted  with  white 
posts ;  but  this  is  occasionally  relieved  by  thickets  of  Rhododen 
dron,  Kalaiia,  and  Phyllerea,  which  must  be  splendid  when  flower 
ing,  in  May ;  and  about  sixty  miles  from  this  place  the  pitch 
is  superseded  by  the  Pinus  palustris.  It  .is  pretty  to  see  the  long 
tassel-like  looking  leaves  streaming  in  the  wind ;  but  it  makes  a  very 
transparent  looking  forest,  as  the  branches  grow  wide  apart,  and  the 
bunches  of  foliage  are  also  distant  from  each  other.  I  begin  to 
mark  cotton  plantations,  and  my  compassionate  feelings  are  rapidly 
changing  sides.  It  appears  to  me  our  benevolent  intentions  in  Eng- 


195 

land  have  taken  a  mistaken  direction,  and  that  we  should  bestow 
our  compassion  on  the  masters  instead  of  on  the  slaves.  The 
former  by  no  means  enjoy  the  incubus  with  which  circumstances 
have  loaded  them,  and  would  be  only  too  happy  if  they  could  super 
sede  this  black  labour  by  white ;  but  as  to  the  negroes,  they  are  the 
merriest,  most  contented  set  of  people  I  ever  saw  ;  of  course  there 
are  exceptions,  but  I  am  inclined  to  suspect  that  we  have  as  much 
vice,  and  more  suffering,  than  is  caused  here  by  the  unfortunate 
institution  of  Slavery  ;  and  I  very  much  doubt  if  freedom  will  ever 
make  the  black  population,  in  the  mass,  anything  more  than  a  set 
of  grown-up  children.  Even  as  to  the  matter  of  purchase  and  sale, 
it  is  disliked  by  masters  ;  and  I  find  compassion  very  much  wasted 
upon  the  objects  of  it.  An  old  lady  died  here  lately,  and  her 

negroes  were  to  be  parted  with  ;  Mrs.  S ,  an   acquaintance  of 

mine,  knew  these  blacks,  and  shed  tears  about  their  change  of  fate; 
but  when  they  came  to  market,  and  she  found  all  so  gay  and  indiffer 
ent  about  it,  she  could  not  help  feeling  her  sorrow  was  greatly  thrown 
away.  Mrs.  Stowe's  Topey  is  a  perfect  illustration  of  Darkie's 
character,  and  many  of  the  sad  histories  of  which  her  book  is  made 
up  may  be  true  as  isolated  facts;  but  yet  I  feel  sure  that,  as  a  whole, 
the  story,  however  ingeniously  worked  up,  is  an  unfair  picture ;  a 
libel  upon  the  slaveholders  as  a  body.  I  very  much  doubt  if  a  real 
Uncle  Tom  can  often  be  found  in  the  whole  negro  race ;  and  if 
such  a  being  is,  or  was,  he  is  as  great  a  rarity  as  a  Shakspeare  among 
whites.  One  particular  want  appears  to  me  evident  in  negro  minds 
and  character  :  they  have  no  consciousness  of  the  fitness  of  things. 
I  suffer  now  from  the  cold  wintry  weather  here;  and  upon  my 
begging  Blackie  for  a  better  fire  in  my  room,  in  the  civilest,  most 
anxious  tone,  he  asked  whether  I  would  not  like  some  iced  water  ? 
(Knowing  this  to  be  a  luxury  in  hot  weather,  he  would  never  con 
sider  that  it  might  be  less  acceptable  in  cold.)  We  have  lately  had 
black  chambermaids  in  all  hotels.  They  are  perfectly  good-natured, 
and  officiously  anxious  to  help  us  in  all  matters  in  which  their  assist 
ance  is  not  required.  '  Let  I  do  this,  Missus,'  and  '  Let  I  do  that,' 
when  perhaps  it  is  hard  to  induce  them  to  do  what  is  really  wanted 


196  DARKIES    AS    NURSES. 

— to  light  the  fire  when  \ve  are  cold,  or  to  bring  a  little  warm  water 
when  clean  hands  would  be  a  luxury.  They  fairly  take  possession 
of  us,  and  unless  we  lock  them  out,  they  stand  to  watch  our  pro 
ceedings,  and  curiously  to  inspect  our  things.  '  Adeline,'  at  Lynch- 
burg,  saw  my  sketch  of  the  black  cook  on  board  the  Links  canal 
boat,  at  which  she  burst  into  a  loud  laugh,  and  exclaimed,  '  He  very 
like  a  monkey,  missus — we  very  like  monkies.'  And  she  appeared 
delio-hted  with  her  own  wit — not  at  all  hurt  by  the  idea.  A  pretty 
Southern  lady  arrived  at  the  hotel,  with  a  fair  infant  in  the  arms  of 
his  black  nurse.  I  came  out  from  the  tea-room  rather  sooner  than 
was  expected,  and  found  all  the  Darkies  that  could  get  away  as 
sembled  round  the  tiny  massa  (they  are  very  fond  of  children,  and 
make  capital  nurses — tender,  watchful,  playful,  and  yet,  I  think, 
firm  ;  but  they  are  firm  only  with  children),  jumping  and  screaming 
their  delight.  Upon  seeing  me  an  elderly  man  came  forward,  with 
a  grin  and  a  bow — 4  The  black  population  are  only  enjoying  them 
selves,  missus.'  I  said  I  Avas  glad  they  were  happy,  and  left  them  to 
their  happiness.  At  one  of  the  railroad  stations  I  watched  a  young 
and  intelligent-looking  black  man,  considerably  beyond  boyhood, 
perseveringly  keeping  up  a  kind  of  Highland  trot  over  a  number  of 
small  pitch  barrels  with  all  the  zest  of  a  white  child  from  four  to  six 
years  of  age.  I  begin  to  doubt  whether  they  ever  grow  mentally 
after  twenty.  They  are  precocious  children,  being  so  imitative ; 
they  soon  ripen,  come  to  a  standstill,  and  advance  no  farther.  In  this 
respect  Uncle  Tom  is  a  myth,  but  Topsy  a  reality.  I  mean  to  go 
and  see  a  sale  of  slaves  ;  my  wish  is  to  judge  the  subject  fairly  in 
all  its  bearings,  and  this  I  may  be  trusted  to  do  even  by  Abolition 
ists  ;  for  early  prejudices  and  my  national  and  acquired  feelings  are 
certainly  opposed  to  slavery  ;  but  if  countenances  are  '  a  history  as 
well  as  a  prophecy,'  the  national  expression  of  faces  in  the  North  as 
contrasted  with  those  of  the  South  tell  a  strange,  and  to  me  an  un 
expected  story,  as  regards  the  greatest  happiness  principle  of  the 
greatest  number !  Of  course,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  no  rules 
are  without  exception ;  but,  oh,  the  haggard,  anxious,  melancholy, 
restless,  sickly,  hopeless  faces  I  have  seen  in  the  Northern  States — 


EARLY    SELF-RELIANCE. 


in  the  rail-cars,  on  the  steamboats,  in  the  saloons,  and  particularly 
in  the  ladies'  parlour.     There  is  beauty  of  feature  and  complexion, 
with  hardly  any  individuality  of  character.   Nothing  like  simplicity, 
even  amono-  children  after  ten  years  of  age— hot-house,  forced  im 
petuous  beings,  the  almighty  dollars,  the  incentive  and  only  guide 
to  activity  and   appreciation.     Women  care  that   their   husbands 
should   gain   gold,  that  they  may  spend  it  in  dress  and  ostenta 
tion  •  and  the  men  like  that  their  wives  should  appear  as  queens, 
whether  they  rule  well,  or  ill,  or  at  all ;   yet  it  is  certain  that  I  have 
made  the  acquaintance,  and  that  I  value  the  friendship,  of  superior 
women  in  the  North,  and  if  I  should  be  thought  to  have  expressed 
myself  with  too  much  severity,  I  appeal  to  their  candour  and  judg 
ment  ;  and  being  American  cousins  they  have  the  Anglo-Saxon  love 
of  Truth,  and  will  not  spurn  her  even  in  an  unveiled  form,  or  re 
ceive  her  ungraciously  even  when  thus  presented.     I  have  reason  to 
speak  gratefully,  and  warmly  do  I  feel,  and  anxiously  do  I  venture 
these  observations,  which  may  seem  even  harsh  and  ungrateful, 
do  not  yet  know  much  of  the  Southern  ladies  ;  but  from  Washing 
ton  to  this  place  I  have  been  struck  by  a  general  improvement  of 
countenance  and  manner  in  the  white  race,  and  this  in  spite  of  the 
horrors  which  accompany  the  misuse  of  tobacco.     If  the  gentlemen 
of  this  part  of  the  country  would  only  acquire  habits  of  self-control 
and  decency  in  this  matter,  they  would  indeed  become  the  Preux 
Chevaliers  of  the  United  States,  as  their  hills  and  valleys  may  prove 
the  store-houses  and  gardens  of  the  Union.     May  their  sons  and 
daughters  look  to  these  things,  and  increase  in  wealth,  prosperity, 
virtue,  and  happiness ! 

In  the  railroad-cars  the  day  before  yesterday,  when  asking  for 
information  as  to  the  name  of  a  place,  a  youth  sitting  near  offered 
to  go  and  find  it  out  for  me;  he  had  the  air  of  a  ruddy,  healthy- 
looking  Englishman,  and  I  was  struck  by  the  frank,  ingenuous 
manner  with  which  he  came  forward :  he  stood  by  my  seat,  and 
afterwards  conversed  freely,  yet  without  conceit  or  forwardness, 
elicited  that  his  parents  are  Bavarian,  residing  at  no  great  distance 
from  Munich;  that  at  sixteen  he  came  out  to  this  country  alone,  as 


198  CHARLESTON. 

a  traveller,  in  some  business ;  that  he  loves  his  own  people  and  his 
friends,  and  hopes,  some  day,  to  revisit  them  ;  but  that  it  is  probable 
the  duties  of  his  calling  will  detain  him  in  America  for  years.  I 
would  stake  rny  existence  upon  the  honour  and  integrity  of  that  boy  ; 
he  will  prove  a  fine  example  of  the  advantages  of  early  collision  and 
of  self  reliance.  I  have  heard  the  Lord's  Prayer  quoted  as  an  argu 
ment  for  keeping  boys  out  of  the  indurating  process  of  early  tempta 
tion.  I  cannot  think  that  the  words  alluded  to  have  any  other  sense 
than  of  an  individual  petition  for  strength  to  overcome.  Every  boy 
wrapped  in  what  the  canny  Scotch  wife  calls  the  *  blue  blanket,' 
may  not  prove  vicious,  but  most  of  them  'sow  their  wild  oats'  be 
tween  eighteen  and  twenty-five,  instead  of  some  years  earlier;  and 
those  who  do  not,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred  become  weak 
and  undecided  characters.  It  must  be  remembered  that  weakness 
comes  nigh  to  wickedness,  though  it  may  not  be  (as  the  old  proverb 
has  it)  worse  than  wickedness.  The  Professors  at  the  Virginian 
University  tell  me  they  regret  that  Jefferson  (its  founder)  placed  it 
away  from  a  town.  I  asked  what  their  experience  led  them  to  think 
of  home  education  for  young  men,  and  received  the  same  answer  as 
I  have  already  from  experienced  heads  of  houses  at  Oxford  and  Cam 
bridge  :  that  all  the  care  of  a  virtuous  home  will  not  make  up  for 
the  life-training  of  the  world,  best  given  at  an  age  when  the  tempta 
tions  of  vice  have  less  strength,  and  its  ugliness  is  more  apparent 
than  it  will  be  some  years  later.  I  consider  this  subject  as  one  of 
such  overwhelming  importance  to  the  Christian  and  moral  welfare 
of  those  concerned,  that  no  scruples,  either  of  affection  or  interest, 
shall  induce  me  to  conceal  these  opinions,  or  mask  my  own 
convictions. 

Charleston,  January  29. — A  cold  day  yesterday,  and  wet  all 
this  morning.     I  have  only  made  acquaintance  with  some  friends  of 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  R .     They  took  me  last  night  to  what  I  should 

not  have  seen  of  my  own  accord  in  America,  Waugh's  Italia  re 
moved  ;  it  consists  of  beautiful  panoramic  views  of  all  the  finest 
sights  and  views  in  Italy.  I  never  met  with  anything  superior  of 
the  kind,  and  I  hope  they  may  some  day  be  taken  to  England.  This 


THE    TILLANDSIA    USNOIDES.  199 

hotel  is  very  good  ;  much  better  ordered  than  Willard's,  at  Wash 
ington  ;  or  even  than  the  St.  Nicholas,  at  New  York,  in  point  of  real 
comfort,  although  less  gorgeously  furnished  than  the  latter.  Of  this 
city  I  have  as  yet  seen  nothing ;  but  the  streets  and  houses  appear 
to  be  clean  and  well  kept.  Last  night  I  heard  parties  of  darkies 
singing,  as  they  passed  the  windows,  those  negro  melodies  the  airs 
of  which  have  become  familiar  in  England.  Music,  nursing,  wash 
ing,  and  cooking  are  their  peculiar  talents,  and  cheerfulness  their 
special  virtue.  After  dinner  to-day  I  had  the  first  good  orange  I 
have  tasted  since  I  came  South.  It  has  surprised  me  to  find  that 
fruit  is  more  scarce  and  dearer  in  Virginia  and  Carolina  than  with 
us.  I  am  not  to  see  orange  trees  till  I  reach  Florida ;  and  through 
out  the  United  States  their  fruit  is  much  less  plentiful  than  in 
England — perhaps  at  New  Orleans  I  may  find  it  otherwise.  Sweet 
potatoes  and  turtle  are  both  frequent  at  the  dinner-table  of  this  hotel. 
This  evening  one  of  my  pleasant  Washington  acquaintances,  Mr. 

P ,  came  to  see  me,  and  we  are  to  go  together  to-morrow,  to  call 

on  Mrs,  H .     It  has  poured  all  the  morning,  so  I  have  not  been 

out. 

This  is  a  fine  day ;  several  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  this  place 

called  on  me,  and  I  received  Mr.  and  Mrs.  II ,  who  forestalled 

my  intention,  by  coming  to  me.  Professor  and  Mrs.  Gibbs  took  me 
to  make  a  sketch  of  the  Ettewan  and  Yemassee  Rivers  from  the  Bat 
tery,  at  White  Point.  There  I  saw  the  first  palmetto  I  have  yet  met 
with  in  the  open  air ;  and,  on  my  return  to  the  hotel,  a  gentleman 
told  me  the  Isabel  steamer  had  just  brought  a  cargo  of  oranges  from 
Cuba.  In  one  garden  this  morning  I  saw  a  standard  orange-tree, 
with  some  fruit  upon  it,  but  it  was  supposed  not  to  be  sweet ;  and 
since  that  I  have  found  several  of  the  same,  bearing  only  what  we 
should  call  Seville  oranges.  The  timber-trees  of  Magnolia  grandi- 
flora  all  about  this  place  are  fine,  and  must  be  beautiful  in  summer, 
but  this  severe  winter  renders  vegetation  very  backward ;  and  I  see 
some  of  the  live  oaks  (Quercus  virens)  rather  cut  by  the  cold.  The 
Tillandsia  usnoides  (called  everywhere  here  by  the  name  of  hanging 
moss),  having  the  appearance,  at  a  little  distance,  of  our  hair-like 


200  BOTANIZING. 

lichens,  dresses  most  of  the  trees,  but  especially  the  live  oak,  with  its 
graceful  pendulous  bunches,  sometimes  hanging  a  yard  arid  a  half 
long ;  the  stem  is  not  larger  than  a  thread,  set  with  small,  rounded, 
frosted  white  leaves ;  the  little  sweet-scented,  reddish,  purplish  flowers 
come  out  at  the  end  of  the  rope-like  stems  which  swing  about  in  the 
breeze.  They  steep  this  Tillandsia  in  water,  and  use  its  black,  hair- 
like  fibres  for  stuffing  mattresses  and  pillows ;  the  seeds  being  light, 
are  carried  about  by  the  wind,  and  stick  and  fructify  in  all  the  trees 
around ;  yet  it  seems  difficult  to  cultivate,  for  I  have  never  seen  it  in 
our  English  Epiphyte  houses.  The  temperature  of  any  greenhouse 
would  suit  its  constitution,  but  I  imagine  it  requires  to  be  blown 
about ;  and  a  still  atmosphere  is  probably  uncongenial  to  the  habits 
of  this  pretty  waving  plant.  I  have  seen  a  live  oak  as  large  as  any 
of  our  British  oaks,  having  upon  it  as  many  tufts  of  Tillandsia  as 
leaves ;  it  does  not  appear  to  be  injurious  like  the  mistletoe,  but  adds 
to  the  beauty  of  its  adopted  parent  without  shortening  the  life  of 
whatever  sustaining  tree  may  support  it.  I  drank  tea  at  Mrs. 
R 's,  and  spent  a  pleasant  evening  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H . 

January  30. — Professor  and  Mrs.  Gibbs  called  for  me  at  eleven 
in  the  morning,  and  we  had  a  delightful  day  in  the  open  air,  bota 
nizing,  &c.  Dr.  Gibbs  knew  every  plant  and  seed.  For  the  first 
time  I  found  yarras  and  cactuses  in  the  hedge-rows ;  ferns,  such  as 
Polypodium  incanum,  plentifully  on  ancient  live  oaks,  Asplenium 
ebeneum,  and  Botrychium  Virginian um,  in  an  English  looking  lane ; 
the  beautiful  little  Houstonia  serpyllifolia,  and  Mitchella  repens,  with 
scarlet  twin  berries ;  Prunus  Caroliniaria ;  and  the  Jasmine-coloured 
Gelsemium  sempervirens  twining  up  it,  and  through  the  hedges  of 
Ilex  cassine.  I  often  feel  in  this  country  as  if  I  had  been  removed 
to  a  new  heavens  and  a  i.ew  earth,  and  as  if  my  enjoyments  now  are 
a  foretaste  of  worlds  where  space  and  time  will  open  out  fresh  de 
lights,  in  a  fuller  comprehension  of  the  mighty  Creator  and  his 
mighty  works. 

At  a  pretty  spot  called  Gibbs'  Farm,  belonging  to  some  part  of 
the  Professor's  family,  we  passed  great  part  of  the  morning ;  in  a 
small  garden  belonging  to  it,  I  ^gathered  bundles  of  that  beautiful 


MAGNOLIA    CEMETERY. 


201 


paper  Narcissus,  so  rare  in  England,  and  I  knocked  down  what  is 
here  called  a  sour  orange  (alias  bitter)  from  a  fine  bush  thirty  feet 
high.     Then  after  making  a  sketch  of  that  picturesque  homestead, 
with  its  venerable  oaks,  the  Tillandsia,  imitating  the  white  beard  and 
silvery  locks  of  age,  Mrs.  Gibbs  placed  at  my  feet  a  basket  filled  with 
oranges  and  bananas  from  Cuba,  for  lunch,  and  I  made  these  a  fore 
ground  for  my  drawing.     We  again  got  into  the  carriage  and  made 
our  progress  to  Magnolia  Cemetery.      Owing  to  the  usual  reckless 
ness  of  American  habits,  we  had  to  cross  a  railroad   which  runs  for 
some  way  along  the  side  of  the  road ;  we  had  hardly  passed  over  it 
a  moment,  when  the  train  rushed  by  ;  there  is  not  even  a  slight 
fence  to  divide  the  iron  from  the  common  track,  and  they  say  horses 
get  used  to  the  cars,  and  men  to  the  necessary  caution,  so  that  after 
a  little  practice,  few   accidents  occur  ;  of  course,  cows  and  oxen  and 
sheep  are  smashed  now  and  then,  but  the  Company  pays,  and  that 
is  all.     I  never  cross  these  roads  without  a  sensation  of  terror.   Mag 
nolia  Cemetery  is  pretty ;  it  has  a  chapel  built  like  a  country  church 
in  England  ;  in  style,  simple  perpendicular  Gothic,  with  a  light  and 
elegant  spire.     The  grounds  are  ornamented  by  a  creek,  which  makes 
its  way  up  from  the  Ettewan  River,  and  its  waters,  even  here,  are  rather 
salt.     I  sketched  the  entrance  and  chapel,  and  then  a  fine  live  oak, 
with  Charleton  and  the  Accabee  River  uniting  itself  to  the  ocean  in 
the  distance  ;  a  foreground  of  tombs,  which  are  here  well  chosen  in 
point  of  taste,  and  without  those  white  boundary  posts  which  I  have 
mentioned  as  disfiguring  Greenwood,  Hamilton,  and  some  of  the 
other  burying-grounds  in  Canada  and  the  United  States,  which  are 
otherwise  so  far  in  advance  of  the  mother  country  in  sentiment  and 
beauty.  Republicanism  forgets  itself  in  the  concerns  of  the  grave  and 
of  immortality.     Strange  that  when  all  are  really  supposed  equal, 
love  and  truth  banishes  the  equality  which  is  emblematical  of  pride, 
and  cultivates  only  the  freedom  of  virtue !     There  is  more  love  of 
nature  evinced  in  the   cemeteries  of  America,  than  in  the  arrange 
ments  for  the  living :  life  is  the  myth,  eternity  the  reality  of  existence ; 
beautiful  flowers  are  cultivated  for  the  dead  ;    taste  is  pure,  and  feel 
ing  uncontaminated  by  dollars  and  cents.     The  monuments,  tombs, 
10 


202  BELMONT. 

and  inscriptions  are  generally  pathetic  and  interesting,  free  from  the 
bombast  and  posthumous  flattery  too  common  in  England.  As  the 
families  are  together  in  these  last  homes,  usually  the  surname  marks 
each  entrance  gate;  within,  one  often  sees  a  marble  urn,  or  slab, 
marked  with  little  more  than  i  our  brother,'  '  a  dearly  loved  sister,' 
'  my  wife,'  '  little  Addy,'  *  our  kind  parents,'  '  two  precious  babes,' 
&c.  &c.  These  simple  words  attract  the  sympathy  of  strangers  and 
awaken  the  tenderness  of  friends  far  more  than  eulogies.  I  never 
walk  through  these  cemeteries  without  a  sensation  of  pleasure  derived 
from  the  consciousness  of  Christian  brotherhood,  rather  than  of  sor 
row  from  that  of  our  common  fate.  Here  I  realize  more  that  we  shall 
all  be  made  alive  again,  than  that  we  shall  all  die.  Till  sunset  we 
remained  out;  there  was  little  temptation  to  return  home  for  dinner; 
I  was  most  willing  to  exchange  it  for  tea  ;  and  afterwards  my  plea 
sant  Washington  friend  called  and  took  me  to  a  little  dancing  party, 
at  the  house  of  one  of  his  married  daughters,  where  I  saw  young  la 
dies  more  natural,  and  more  gracefully  and  simply  attired,  than  in 
the  Northern  States;  both  the  tone  of  voice  and  the  choice  of  words 
and  pronunciation  are  much  more  like  old  England  as  one  proceeds 
further  south ;  the  habits  simpler  and  more  unostentatious,  and  the 
dress  of  every-day  wear  is  suitable  and  gentlewoman  like,  instead  of 
being,  as  in  the  North,  unbecoming,  stiff,  and  extravagant ;  the 
young  women  plastering  their  hair,  and  wearing  silks  fit  for  their 
grandmothers,  and  the  middle  aged  spending  hours  in  repairing  the 
ravages  of  time,  by  studious  artificial  contrivances,  which,  after  all, 
make  themselves  evident  to  the  most  superficial  observers. 

January  31. — I  spent  a  delightful  day  with  Mrs.  H ,  who 

took  me  out  to  her  cottage,  four  miles'  distant ;  there  we  provision 
ally  planted  the  ferns  and  other  treasures  I  took  up  on  Tuesday. 
She  will  let  them  grow  there  until  I  am  ready  to  receive  them  at 
Boston,  next  September,  to  be  planted  in  my  Ward's  case.  Belmont 
is  a  charming  spot ;  it  is  (like  the  Southern  ladies)  not  over  dressed  ; 
it  has  the  Ettewan  on  one  side,  and  the  forest  on  the  other ;  slaves 
who  are  adopted  children,  and  Irish  labourers  who  have  adopted  a 
master  and  mistress.  I  begged  to  go  into  a  negro  cottage  in  the 


OBSERVATIONS    ON    SLAVERY.  203 

wood  ;  the  parents  were  out,  and  we  found  only  a  covey  of  tiny 
'darkies,'  from  two  years  to  eight — '  very  like  monkeys,'  as  Adeline 
would  have  said.  The  negro  race  never  sit  clown  to  a  rrieal  if  they 
can  possibly  avoid  doing  so  ;  they  have  always  some  sticks  burning, 
and  a  kind  of  pot  au  feu  ;  in  one  corner  of  the  tolerably  comforta 
ble  abode  was  a  fishing  net,  and  another  net  held  an  omnium  gathe 
rum  of  eatables  ;  no  great  attention  to  cleanliness,  but  the  appear 
ance  of  everything  out  of  doors  was  like  that  of  a  small  farm  in 
England — cows,  chickens,  &c.,  &c.  I  begin  to  think  we  anti-slavers 
and  abolitionists  are  as  much  blinded  by  names  as  the  republicans, 
who  think  they  have  shaken  off  an  aristocracy,  because  they  have 
got  rid  of  dukes  and  duchesses,  and  lords  and  ladies.  I  must  extract 
some  observations  from  a  work  published  here,  which  my  short  expe 
rience  of  a  slave  country  induces  me  unhesitatingly  to  adoptas  my  own. 
'  Slavery  may  not  be  the  best  system  of  labour,  but  it  is  the  best 
for  the  negro  in  this  country.  If  it  be  true  of  the  English  soldier  or 
sailor,  that  his  condition  has  been  ameliorated  in  the  last  fifty  years, 
it  is  quite  as  true  of  the  negro.  Slavery  is  that  system  of  labour 
which  exchanges  subsistence  for  work,  which  secures  a  life  mainte 
nance  from  the  master  to  the  slave,  and  gives  a  life  labour  from  the 
slave  to  the  master.  Slavery  is  the  negro  system  of  labour :  he  is 
lazy  and  improvident ;  slavery  makes  him  work,  and  ensures  him  a 
home,  food,  and  clothing ;  it  provides  for  sickness,  infancy,  and  old 
age ;  allows  no  tramping  or  skulking,  and  knows  no  pauperism.  All 
cruelty  is  an  abuse  ;  does  not  belong  to  the  institution  ;  is  contrary 
to  law ;  may  be  punished,  prevented,  and  removed.  If  slavery  is 
subject  to  abuses,  it  has  its  compensations  also ;  it  establishes  per 
manent,  and  therefore  kind,  relations  between  labour  and  capital.  It 
does  away  with  what  Stuart  Mill  calls  *  the  widening  and  embitter 
ing  feud  between  labour  and  capital.'  It  draws  close  the  relation 
between  master  and  servant ;  it  is  not  an  engagement  for  days, 
weeks,  but  for  life.  The  most  wretched  feature  in  hireling  labour  is 
the  isolated,  miserable  creature  who  has  no  home,  no  work,  no  food, 
and  in  whom  no  one  is  particularly  interested.  Slavery  does  for 
the  negro  what  European  schemers  in  vain  attempt  to  do  for  the 


204  OBSERVATIONS  ON  SLAVERY. 

hireling.  On  every  plantation  the  master  is  a  poor-law  commissioner, 
to  provide  food,  clothing,  medicine,  houses,  for  his  people.  He  is  a 
police  officer  to  prevent  idleness,  drunkenness,  theft,  or  disorder  ;  there 
is  therefore  no  starvation  among  slaves,  and  comparatively  few  crimes. 
The  poet  tells  us  there  are  worse  things  in  the  world  than  hard 
labour  ;  '  withouten  that  would  come  a  heavier  bale  ; '  and  so  there 
are  worse  things  for  the  negro  than  slavery  in  a  Christian  land.  Arch 
bishop  Hughes,  in  his  visit  to  Cuba,  asked  Africans  if  they  wished 
to  return  to  their  native  country  ;  the  answer  was  always,  No.  If 
the  negro  is  happier  here  than  in  his  own  land,  can  we  say  that 
slavery  is  an  evil  to  him  ?  Slaves  and  masters  do  not  quarrel  with 
their  circumstances  ;  is  it  not  hard  that  the  stranger  should  interfere 
to  make  both  discontented  ? 

'  All  Christians  believe  that  the  affairs  of  this  world  are  directed 
by  God  for  wise  and  good  purposes.  The  arrival  of  the  negro  in 
America  makes  no  exception  to  that  rule — his  transportation  was  a 
rude  method  of  emigration,  the  only  practicable  one  in  his  case. 
Until  this  operation  was  interfered  with  and  made  piratical,  it  was 
not  attended  with  the  wretchedness  often  exhibited  by  the  emigrant 
ship,  even  now,  notwithstanding  the  passenger  law.  What  the  ul 
timate  end  of  slavery  may  be  we  cannot  presume  to  guess;  but  we 
can  see  much  good  already  resulting — good  to  the  negro  in  his  im 
proved  condition — good  to  the  country  whose  rich  fields  he  has 
made  productive  in  climates  at  first  unfit  for  the  white  man — and 
good  to  the  continent  of  Africa,  as  furnishing  the  only  means  of  ef 
fectually  civilizing  its  people.  Whether  Mr.  Clarkson  or  Lord  Car 
lisle  approve  of  the  mode  in  which  it  has  pleased  Providence  to 
bring  this  about,  the  result  will  probably  be  the  same.  There  has 
been  malignant  abuse  lavished  upon  the  slave-holders  of  America  by 
writers  in  this  country  and  in  England ;  they  consider  abuses  as  its 
necessary  condition,  and  a  cruel  master  its  fair  representative.  They 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  thing  abused  ;  they  substitute  an  ideal  for  a 
reality.  They  have  shown  as  little  regard  for  truth  and  common  sense, 
as  we  should  do  if  we  were  to  gather  up  all  the  atrocities  committed  in 
Great  Britain  by  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children,  masters 


OBSERVATIONS    ON    SLAVERY.  205 

and  servants,  and  denounce  these  several  relations  in  life  in  consequence 
of  their  abuses.  If  because  of  the  evils  incident  to  hireling  labour, 
because  there  are  heartless,  grinding  employers,  and  miserable,  starved 
labourers,  it  should  be  proposed  to  abolish  work  for  hire,  it  would  be 
quite  as  logical  as  the  argument  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  because 
there  are  sufferings  among  slaves,  and  hard  hearts  among  masters. 
The  cruelty  or  suffering  is  no  more  a  necessary  part  of  our  system 
than  it  is  of  the  other.  To  attempt  to  establish  the  hiring  plan 
with  Africans  is  as  wise  as  to  endeavour  to  establish  the  constitutional 
government  of  England  in  Ashantee  or  Dahomey.  Carlyle  says  that 
the  world  will  not  permit  Cuffy  to  lie  on  his  back  and  eat  pumpkins 
for  ever,  in  a  country  intended  by  Providence  to  produce  coffee, 
sugar,  and  spices  for  the  use  of  all  mankind  ;  and  that  he  must,  one 
of  these  days,  resume  his  work  for  Brother  Jonathan,  or  some  other 
master.  The  blacks  in  Hayti  have  only  changed  masters  ;  they  are 
the  slaves  of  a  black  chief,  as  in  Africa.  Their  pagan  mummeries 
have  been  resumed ;  they  are  engaged  in  petty  wars,  instead  of 
peaceful  labours.  The  Emperor  has  his  standing  army,  and  is  as 
anxious  as  more  important  potentates  to  employ  it  in  the  legitimate 
business  of  cutting  throats.  The  African  cannot  originate  a  civiliza 
tion  of  his  own ;  from  the  slave  civilized  and  instructed  by  slavery 
can  any  regeneration  of  the  African  continent  be  alone  looked  for. 
"We  must  believe  that  Christianity  will  at  last  be  established  in 
Africa,  and  carry  there  the  improvement  which  always  attends  its 
steps.  This  is  not  to  be  accomplished  suddenly  by  any  compulsive 
movement,  but  slowly  and  gradually — it  is  in  this  way  only  that 
Providence  effects  his  great  purposes.  The  black  race  always  per 
ishes  if  placed,  as  manumission  would  place  it,  in  competition  with 
the  white.  There  is  an  obvious  and  irremovable  dissimilarity  between 
the  white  and  black  race.  The  number  of  blacks  in  Canada  and 
in  the  Northern  States  is  only  kept  up  by  the  addition  of  freed  or 
runaway  slaves.  In  slavery  they  increase,  as  free  they  die  out ; 
therefore  it  is  that  the  blacks  in  America  cannot  be  made  free  for 
their  own  sakes,  even  if  it  were  desirable  they  should  be  for  their 
masters'.  Manumission  would  injure  both.' 


206  OBSERVATIONS    ON    SLAVERY. 

Alas !  for  distant  Philanthropy !  Whatever  griefs  and  vices  may 
be  discovered  in  the  Southern  States,  I  fear  their  prototypes  are  to  be 
discovered  in  London,  in  Paris,  and  even  in  New  York.  Let  us  take 
out  the  beam  from  our  own  eyes  before  we  make  ourselves  so  busy 
with  the  motes  in  those  of  our  neighbour ;  and  instead  of  abusing 
each  other,  let  us  assist  in  bearing  one  another's  burdens,  and  the 
sorrows  and  faults  of  each  will  be  lessened  by  division. 

Friday,  February  2. — Yesterday  I  saw  much  of  interest  in  the 

Museum,  had  a  pleasant  dinner  at  Mrs.  R 's,  and  went  to  an 

evening  party  at  Mrs.  J.  de  R 's.     This  day  we  embark  for 

Savannah  and  Florida,  to  return  the  15th,  and  to  embark  for  Cuba 
the  19th.     No  time  for  more  at  present.     Goodbye. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER   XVIII. 


SAVANNAH,  GEORGIA,  ) 


February  4,  1855. 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

The  Calhoun  steamer  left  Charleston  at  four  o'clock  yester 
day,  and  brought  us  here  about  three  in  the  morning — a  quiet  and 
bright  moonlight  voyage.  Mr.  H ,  to  whose  care  I  was  recom 
mended  by  my  friend  Mr.  R ,  of  Liverpool,  put  me  on  board  the 

vessel,  and  invited  me  to  return  to  his  house  on  the  15th,  to  take 
the  Isabel  for  Cuba  on  the  19th.  My  last  letter  closed  very  hastily, 
as  I  had  only  just  time  to  seal  it  before  going  on  board.  I  do  not 

know  what  you  and  our  abolitionist  friend  F may  think  of  my 

slavery  conclusions.  You  will  imagine  that  I  have  fallen  under 
some  evil  influence  ;  but  really  we  in  England  know  as  little  about 
the  domestic  arrangements  of  these  Southerners  as  they  do  about  our 
great  landholders  in  England.  I  have  been  several  times  assured 
that  the  present  Duchess  of  Sutherland  depopulated  the  Highlands 
for  the  sake  of  raising  sheep  there.  They  confuse  dates  and  facts, 
and  confound  the  present  Duchess  with  the  old  Countess  Duchess, 
whose  energetic  plans  aided  the  starving  Celts  she  caused  to  emi 
grate,  and  that  outlay  of  money  may  perhaps  now  tend  towards  the 
improvement  of  the  estates  of  the  present  Duke.  I  fell  in  with  a 
personification  of  '  Rebecca '  on  board  the  Calhoun  steamer.  I  was 
introduced  when  we  embarked,  and  I  felt  myself  attracted  by  her 


208  SAVANNAH. 

beautiful,  melancholy  face.  When  we  got  acquainted,  she  told  me 
this  singular  story : — At  thirteen,  she  had  run  away  from  doting 
friends  with  her  present  husband,  who,  being  a  Christian,  was  not 
acceptable  to  them,  and  they  refused  forgiveness.  Some  years  after, 
when  she  was  on  a  steamer  with  her  husband  and  a  young  babe, 
she  was  induced  to  sing  '  Sweet  Home '  on  deck,  in  the  dark.  A 
voice  not  far  off  said,  in  a  beseeching  way,  '  Again,  lady — pray 
again.'  A  vague  feeling  crossed  her  that  its  tone  was  familiar,  still 
she  hesitated  to  obey  the  request,  when  a  friend  near  exclaimed, 
'  Yes,  do ;  it  may  be  that  the  stranger  is  separated  from  those  he 
loves.'  She  repeated  the  air,  and  no  more  was  said.  The  next 
morning  she  saw  her  father  in  the  vessel.  She  darted  up  towards 
him,  but  he  turned  his  back  upon  her;  and  her  courage  failing  her, 
she  attempted  no  other  appeal.  Just  after  this  he  stopped  the  black 
nurse  carrying  her  infant,  took  him  in  his  arms,  kissed  his  forehead, 
and  said  to  a  gentleman  standing  near, '  This  is  my  grandson  ;'  yet 
he  forgave  not ;  and  some  months  afterwards  he  died  without  asking 
to  see  his  daughter  or  her  child  again.  She  is  now  a  fifteen-years' 
happy  wife,  with  eight  children,  and  has  at  last  been  invited  to  visit 
her  former  home  alone.  Her  husband  insisted  upon  her  accepting 
this  invitation,  though  it  excluded  him,  and  to-morrow  she  will  be 
received  by  slowly-forgiving  relations.  I  could  not  but  sympathize 
with  her  feelings. 

Savannah  seems  a  large  town,  with  many  pleasant  squares,  in 
one  of  whichr  this  (Pulaski)  hotel  is  situated.  It  is  so  called  in 
memory  of  a  fine  steamer  of  that  name,  which,  before  boilers  were 
well  regulated,  blew  up  and  engulfed  members  of  almost  all  the 
principal  families  in  this  place.  One  family,  consisting  of  thirteen, 
lost  eleven  individuals ;  only  the  father  and  one  infant  Avere  left  be 
hind.  In  all  the  States  of  the  Union  I  find  complaints  of  poverty 
and  public  debt ;  so  that  while  the  Central  Government  of  Wash 
ington  boasts  of  a  superabundance  of  money,  the  Empire  as  a  whole 
is  little  less  involved  than  Great  Britain.  I  think  this  fact  is  not  un 
derstood  in  Europe ;  and  what  is  more,  while  the  national  debt 
seems  not  to  clog  prosperity  in  England,  poverty  makes  itself  very 


'  SLAVE.'  209 

evident  among  the  governments  of  the  Federal  States.  Matters  of 
public  utility  are  at  a  standstill  in  their  chief  cities.  •  It  is  very  easy 
for  President  and  Congress  to  have  a  surplus,  as  long  as  the  Union 
remains  at  peace :  taxes  flow  in,  and  there  are  few  out-goings.  In 
general,  the  local  capitals  are  ill-paved,  indifferently  drained,  and 
poorly  lighted,  and  the  public  buildings  are  few  and  badly  kept. 

The  air  seems  warmer  here  than  at  Charleston ;  but  I  caught 
cold  on  board  the  steamer,  which  confines  me  to  the  house  for  to 
day,  and  not  having  taken  off  my  clothes  last  night,  I  do  not  feel 
very  excursive.  The  Bishop  of  Georgia  (Elliott),  with  his  lady,  and 
a  gentleman  and  some  ladies  I  knew  in  the  North,  have  called  upon 
me. 

I  find  that  the  term  *  Slave '  is  rarely  made  use  of  in  the  South. 
The  blacks  are  called  '  our  servants,'  or  more  commonly '  our  people.' 
We  must  remember  that  when  slaves  are  to  be  disposed  of,  people  in 
this  country  do  not  consider  they  are  literally  buying  men,  but  ser 
vices,  and  what  we  hear  of,  are  the  abuses  not  the  laws  of  the  system. 
Should  a  master  ill-treat  a  slave,  the  law  protects  the  latter;  and  I 
am  inclined  to  believe  cases  of  such  treatment  are  rare.  If  a  slave 
violates  the  law,  a  judge  sends  to  his  master,  and  says,  This  is  your 
servant;  if  you  do  not  punish  him,  I  must.  Of  course  the  culprit 
much  prefers  to  be  corrected  by  his  own  master,  by  whom  all  exten 
uating  circumstances  are  understood  and  allowed  for ;  and  he  is 
usually  left  in  his  hands. 

As  I  have  said  before,  the  blacks  are  children  of  larger  growth. 
They  are  tricky,  idle,  and  dirty.  An  excellent  English  housekeeper 
who  has  the  management  of  this  house,  tells  me  that  it  is  impossible 
for  them  to  get  on  with  the  motives  that  would  influence  whites. 
She  is  very  averse  to  reporting  any  of  the  darkies  as  requiring  cor 
rection  (alias,  a  whipping)  ;  but  without  the  power  of  doing  so,  they 
would  be  utterly  unmanageable.  As  it  is,  one  white  servant  would 
do  the  work  of  three  blacks.  'Tom,'  perhaps,  has  no  other  vocation 
than  to  light  fires.  I  have  been  amused  to  watch  the  slow  round 
about  way  in  which  he  performs  the  operation,  never  having  all  he 
wants  at  hand.  This  morning  he  brought  no  light ;  so  before  pre- 
10* 


210  NEGRO    CHARACTER. 

paring  to  light  the  fire  he  takes  my  wax  candle,  lights  it,  and  lets  it 
stand  burning  uselessly.  Then,  after  lighting  the  fir-2,  he  keeps  the 
candle  burning  for  half  an  hour  in  broad  daylight,  while  he  goes 
through,  various  evolutions  about  the  cinders  and  the  dust,  till  he  has 
settled  it  all  to  his  satisfaction :  and  it  is  of  no  use  to  suggest  any 
quicker  mode  of  proceeding.  I  must  repeat,  over  and  over  again, 
our  ideas  of  negro  character,  and  its  capabilities,  are  little  grounded 
upon  truth. 

We  have  cast  aside  the  evidence  of  people  who,  with  clear  un 
biassed  judgment,  have  watched  the  African  from  his  cradle  to  his 
grave,  and  taken  the  opinion  and  the  advice  of  well-intentioned  but 
hot-headed  zealots,  until  we  have  damaged  the  cause  of  civilization, 
checked  the  progress  of  individuals  of  the  black  race,  and  at  the 
same  time  done  mischief  to  ourselves,  and  to  fine  islands  and  colonies 
which  are  now  again  tending  towards  barbarism.  People  of  the 
Southern  States  might  not  be  considered  unprejudiced  witnesses  of 
the  present  condition  and  prospects  of  our  West  Indian  Islands ;  but 
I  know  from  other  sources,  and  I  appeal  to  Englishmen  for  the  truth 
of  my  information.  Barbadoes  has  already  much  deteriorated,  and 
unless  the  power  of  landed  acquisition  by  negroes  receive  some  legal 
check  (owing  to  the  small  disbursements  necessary  to  their  existence, 
and  their  giving  no  credit,  with  a  deep  laid  intention  of  getting  rid 
of  white  proprietors),  the  blacks  will  slowly  but  certainly  gain  pos 
session  of  the  island.  The  same  process  will  follow  in  others ;  and 
when  too  late  the  British  nation  will  come  to  a  conviction  that  it 
must  either  re-conquer  its  W'est  Indian  Islands,  or  permit  them  to 
amalgamate  with  the  United  States,  which  by  that  time  will  be  too 
wise  to  permit  them  to  remain  free  black  republics.  There  is  no 
doubt  the  blacks  are  susceptible  of  education  and  improvement,  to 
a  certain  extent,  under  white  influence.  The  darkies  of  Baltimore 
and  Virginia  are  a  shade  higher  in  the  scale  of  improvement  than 
those  of  Georgia,  from  being  more  in  approximation  with  whites  in 
a  mass ;  but  you  never  can  change  the  Ethiopian  character,  or  wash 
white  his  skin.  'The  pig  will  never  grow  into  the  lion.'  Under 
good  direction,  it  is  a  light-hearted,  merry,  unreflecting  race,  excit- 


MISTAKE    OF    ENGLISH    PHILANTHROPISTS.  211 

able  and  impulsive ;  but  it  has  a  sense  of  justice,  and  can  be  attached, 
and  be  made  an  honest,  useful,  and  highly  respectable  servant,  by 
judicious  management  and  early  training.  A  well-taught  negro 
coachman  drives  admirably.  They  are  apt  at  any  mechanical  em 
ployment.  Some  of  them  are  very  orderly,  but  put  them  out  of  a 
track  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed,  and  they  rapidly  lose 
themselves.  A  lady  here  has  taken  great  pains  with  a  negro  boy 
bora  in  her  family.  I  was  amused  to  observe  him  standing  behind 
her  chair,  with  a  tray  under  his  arm,  like  a  little  black  statue.  He 
never  forgets  to  come  at  a  particular  hour  for  her  orders ;  but  the 
teaching  him  to  read  is  no  small  undertaking.  He  goes  on  the  box 
of  the  carriage,  and  well  performs  any  accustomed  duty  ;  but  if  you 
ask  him  to  take  a  knife  and  dig  up  a  plant,  he  looks  utterly 
bewildered. 

What  are  we  doing  ?  Instead  of  bringing  away  the  African  race, 
to  return  them  in  a  generation  or  two  educated  for  the  improvement 
and  enlightenment  of  Africa,  are  we  not  re-barbarizing  the  Christian 
world  by  giving  fair  fields  back  again  into  savage  hands  ?  Negro 
Christians  left  to  their  own  guidance  fall  sooner  or  later  again  into 
pagan  habits.  Inquire  of  the  British  consuls ;  ask  the  admirably 
devoted  clergy  and  bishops  of  this  land ;  take  the  convictions  of  any 
persons  of  experience  and  judgment  who  have  lived  among  blacks. 
No  discrepancies  will  be  found  in  such  opinions ;  but  our  people  and 
our  Governments  of  the  last  forty  years  have  been  led  away  by  pre 
conceived  notions ;  they  have  listened  only  to  well-intentioned  but 
weak  religionists,  and  under  a  mistaken  impression  that  they  pro 
moted  freedom  and  Christianity,  have  they  been  giving  encourage 
ment  to  ultimate  bondage  and  paganism.  It  appears  that  in  this 
world  God  punishes  weakness  as  well  as  wickedness.  If  we  have 
intended  virtuously  as  a  nation,  have  we  not  acted  weakly  ?  Instead 
of  being  surprised  that  these  slave  proprietors  feel  themselves  insulted 
and  aggrieved  by  the  manner  in  which  English  philanthropists  have 
vilified  and  abused  them,  I  am  only  astonished  at  the  patience  and 
gentleness  with  which  they  have  endured  our  calumnies.  They  are 
just  and  kind  towards  us  in  spite  of  our  faults,  and  for  the  sake  of 


212  BUONAVENTURA  CEMETERY. 

good  intention,  they  forgive.  It  is  said  the  '  Injurer  never  forgives;' 
let  us  beware  how  we  realize  that  adage.  Among  a  large  class  in 
the  North  I  found  a  jealous  and  unkind  spirit  towards  the  old 
country  ;  the  reverse  of  this  may  be  said  of  the  South.  I  have 
observed  a  noble,  generous,  gentlemanly  spirit  in  this  part  of  the 
Union ;  I  feel  assured  that  if  the  Southern  proprietors,  as  a  class, 
had  found  reason  to  believe  that  the  institution  of  Slavery  was  pre 
judicial  either  to  the  Christian  or  temporal  interests  of  the  blacks, 
they  have  chivalry  enough  in  their  composition  to  have  cast  aside 
mere  motives  of  private  interest ;  but  they  knew,  and  we  did  not 
know — that  was  the  difference.  They  have  a  right  to  accuse  us  of 
ignorance  and  conceit,  and  they  are  more  forbearing  than  we  had 
any  claim  to  expect.  I  will  try  not  again.to  recur  to  this  subject  till 
I  get  to  Cuba,  but  it  meets  me  so  at  every  turn  here,  it  is  difficult 
to  refrain. 

Savannah,  February  6. — Yesterday  I  had  a  pleasant  breakfast 

with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H ,  to  meet  Dr.  Elliott,  as  amiable  and 

excellent  as  his  friend  and  brother  of  Pennsylvania.  He  remained 
among  his  flock  during  the  yellow  fever,  or  rather  plague,  of  the  last 
autumn,  the  consoler  and  the  nurse  of  old  and  young,  and  he 
escaped  that  pestilence  all  through  a  diocese  as  large  as  Great 
Britain.  He  is  sincerely  loved  and  truly  valued,  and  amidst 
his  onerous  duties  he  neither  scorns  nor  neglects  the  study  of 
nature. 

After  breakfast,  Miss  T took  me  a  delightful  drive  to  the 

Cemetery  of  Buenaventura.  We  went  part  of  the  way  through  a 
forest,  even  now  full  of  interest  for  the  eye  of  a  botanist.  Rare 
pines,  magnolias,  Gelucinum  sempervirens  (here  called  Jessamine), 
fan  palms,  cactuses,  live  oaks,  and  palmetto  trees,  not,  as  in  the 
Northern  forests,  set  like  pins  in  a  pincushion,  but  sufficiently  apart 
to  allow  for  increasing  size,  with  airy  glades  and  a  lovely  under 
growth. 

Buenaventura  once  belonged  to  a  gentleman  of  old  family  here ; 
he  planted  five  avenues  of  live  oaks  verging  to  a  centre,  where  stood 
his  residence.  That  house  was  burned  down  ;  a  decreased  income 


A    COLLISION.  213 

obliged  the  family  to  part  with  their  beautiful  place,  and  it  was 
bought  by  speculators,  who  are  realising  large  sums  by  turning  it 
into  a  cemetery ;  it  is  a  most  appropriate  spot  for  the  purpose.  The  • 
live  oaks  form  arches  equal  to  those  of  cathedrals;  while  the 
Tillandsia,  weeping  from  every  branch  of  every  tree,  unartificially 
sympathizes  with  mourners,  and  adds  solemnity  to  the  whole  scene. 
Two  palmettos  standing  near  the  entrance  to  the  old  house  are 
magnificent  specimens  of  that  noble  tree.  I  found  some  young 
seedlings  from  them,  which  I  hope  to  carry  safely  across  the  Atlan 
tic.  We  came  home  by  a  rice  plantation  and  negro  village,  with 
its  neat  and  comfortable  houses ;  but  in  their  interiors  the  people 
evince  no  ideas  of  tidiness  or  comfort.  My  negro  woman  at  Sand 
wich  had  the  only  neat  room  I  have  as  yet  seen  among  them.  I 
was  assured  by  everyone  on  Saturday  that  the  Seminole  steamer  for 
Palatka  would  start  at  ten  o'clock  this  morning;  now  I  am  told  not 
till  four  in  the  afternoon.  I  hope  this  afternoon  start  will  not  turn 
out  to  be  midnight,  as  at  Detroit. 

Darien,  February  9.— Some  days  of  adventure.     It  was  mid 
night  before  the  Seminole  left  Savannah  for  Palatka,  owing  to  a 
necessity  for  repairs  which  the  captain  could  not  get  executed — such 
is  the  slowness  of  negro  work-people  ;  but  a  brilliant  moon  made 
everything  nearly  as  visible  as  day.     I  was  tired,  and  after  a  while 
got  into  my  berth  without  undressing — a  precaution  I  had  every 
reason  to  be  glad  of;  for  about  two-o'clock  I  was  awakened  by  a 
terrible  crash  of  timber  on  my  side  the  vessel,  only  a  few  yards  to 
the  left  of  my  head.     I  was  sure  a  collision  had  occurred,  and 
rushed  out  to  ascertain  whether  the  water  was  likely  to  rush  in,  the 
Arctic  strongly  in  my  imagination.     I  saw  that  a  schooner  had  run 
directly  into  the  paddle-box,  just  beyond  my  berth,  and  completely 
smashed  that  wheel.     The  man  at  the  helm  of  the  intruding  vessel 
must  have  been  asleep ;    suddenly  awakened  by  the  noise  of  our 
steamer,  he  steered  his  boat  the  wrong  way,  and  before  our  pilot 
could  do  anything  she  was  plump  into  us.   Had  he  only  continued  the 
course  he  was  on,  when  asleep,  we  should  have  passed  without  dam 
age  ;  as  it  was,  he  broke  his  own  bowsprit  straight   off,  sprung  his 


214  RETURN    TO    SAVANNAH. 

foremast,  and  crippled  us  thoroughly  ;  so  that  all  our  captain  could 
do  was  to  cast  anchor  (fortunately  within  the  bar  of  the  Savannah 
River),  and  send  off  a  boat  instantly,  eighteen  miles  to  the  town,  for 
relief. 

A  tedious  time  we  had  of  it  till  five  o'clock,  Wednesday,  when 
a  steamer  came  down,  attached  herself  to  our  well  side,  and  took 
the  poor  Seminole  safely  back  to  the  wharf,  from  which  she  had 
started  the  day  before.  It  was  no  use  to  give  way  to  terror  about 
proceeding  in  consequence  of  the  singular  accident  which  had  oc 
curred  ;  I  convinced  myself  we  were  not  likely  to  meet  with  any 
thing  unpleasant  again  immediately ;  and,  after  all,  feelings  of  thank 
fulness  were  those  uppermost  in  my  mind,  that  we  had  passed  such 
a  danger  unscathed.  I  decided  to  set  forth  again  by  the  St.  John 

steamer,  at  eight  o'clock  next  morning.     Poor  R could  not  get 

over  the  fright ;  and  if  there  had  been  any  back  door  to  have  run 
out  of,  for  the  first  time  I  suspect  she  was  almost  inclined  to  desert ; 
however,  with  a  melancholy  expression,  she  became  resigned,  and  we 
returned  to  the  Pulaski  Hotel  to  sleep ;  for  though  Captain  Postell 
was  very  kind,  and  offered  us  our  berths  on  board,  we  were  too 
much  tired  and  exhausted  not  to  seek  quiet  beds  on  shore.  As  in 
most  bad  cases  there  is  compensation,  so  here  good  came  out  of  evil. 
A  common  misfortune  made  me  well  acquainted  with  two  agreeable 
and  superior  men,  President  Wheeler,  of  Burlington  College,  and 
Dr.  Turner,  of  Savannah.  They  took  charge  of  us  as  if  we  had 
been  their  sisters ;  smoothed  every  difficulty,  and  as  it  turned  out, 
there  being  no  hotel  or  place  of  reception  at  Darien,  if  we  had  suc 
ceeded  in  landing  there  the  first  night,  we  should  have  been  thrown 
into  an  awkward  situation.  Now,  Dr.  Turner  went  on  shore  there 
to  prepare  accommodations ;  and  he  and  the  Professor  took  us  to 
the  house  of  a  hospitable  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith,  who  gave  us  a  com 
fortable  bed  in  their  nursery,  evidently  putting  themselves  to  some 
temporary  inconvenience  to  take  in  the  strangers.  This  place, 
Darien,  is  where  General  Oglethorpe  entrenched  himself  during  the 
war ;  it  is  singular  in  appearence,  and  must  be  pretty  in  summer. 
Now,  from  the  absence  of  all  bright  green,  and  the  grey  tinge 


.PLANTATION. 


215 


thrown  over  vegetation  by  the  Tillandsia,  it  has  a  very  original  look. 
The  houses  are  mostly  scattered,  built  of   a  kind  of   oyster-shell 
compost,  the  usual  material  hereabouts ;  these  oysters  and  mussels 
are  thrown  up  in  banks  upon  the  shores  of  the  Walaki  (St.  John's) 
Eiver,  and  the  brackish  lakes,  which  here  form  a  chain,  sometimes 
communicating  with  the  sea,  sometimes  joining  the  rivers,  all  the 
way  from  Savannah,  upon  this  Georgian  coast.      It  is  a  singular 
navigation  ;  one  moment  we  stole  along  between  swamps  of  high 
grass,  where  it  was  not  possible  for  the.  steamer  to  get  through  the 
narrow  bends  except  by  the  assistance  of  a  to  wing-boat .;  then  we 
went  out  into  the  sea ;  then  we  came  back  into  a  wide  river,  but  so 
shallow  that  we  were  frequently  sticking  fast  in  the  mud ;  and  at 
last,  at  night,  we  reached  Darien.     Fortunately  a  four-oared  canoe- 
like  boat,  of  Mr.  Hamilton  Cooper's,  had  come  down  from  his  plan 
tation  on  the  Altamaha,  upon  some  business.     Dr.  Turner  insured 
our  being  taken  up  with  him ;  we  met  Mr.  Cooper  also  by  accident, 
and  after  a  very  pleasant  row  of  about  five  miles,  he  brought  us  to 
his  English-like  house  (as  respects  the  interior)  and  interesting  home, 
my  first  resident  introduction  to  plantation  life.     A  happy  attached 
negro  population  surrounds  this  abode;  I  never  saw  servants  in  any 
old  English  family  more  comfortable,  or  more  devoted ;  it  is  quite  a 
relief  to  see  anything  so  patriarchal,  after  the  apparently  uncomfort 
able  relations  of  masters  and  servants  in  the  Northern  States.     I 
should  much  prefer  being  a  'slave'  here,  to  a  grumbling  saucy  'help' 
there ;  but  everyone  to  their  tastes.    We  left  the  river  about  a  quar 
ter  of  a  mile  from  the  house,  and  came  up  a  narrow  canal,  between 
rice  plantations,  almost  to  the  door  ;  we  passed  two  or  three  large 
flat  boats,  laden  with  rice  ;   and  Mr.  Cooper  took  me  to  see  the 
threshing  machine  which  was  at  work  in  a  barn  ;  the  women  put 
ting  in  the  rice  just  as  we  do  our  grain  ;  they  were  more  comforta 
bly  dressed  than  our  peasantry,  and  looked  happier  ;  otherwise  (ex 
cept  the  complexions)  the  scene  was  much  of  the  same  kind  as  that 
at  a  threshing-barn  in  England.     It  is  in  vain  to  intend  keeping 
silence  upon  the  one  thought  that  must  be  uppermost  in  a  mind 
accustomed  from  childhood  to  erroneous  views  upon  the  Slavery 


216  THE    AFRICAN    RACE. 

question  ;  and  I  may  as  well  write  on.  I  now  see  the  great  error 
we  have  committed  is  in  assuming  that  the  African  race  is  equal  in 
capacity  with  the  European.;  and  that  under  similar  circumstances  it 
is  capable  of  equal  moral  and  intellectual  culture. 

The  history  of  Egypt,  of  Rome,  of  the  English,  French,  and 
Spanish  Colonies,  and  the  experience  of  American  slavery,  prove  the 
reverse.     No  separate  African  civilization  has  sprung  up  from  centu 
ries  of  contact.     St.  Domingo  has  relapsed  into  barbarism,  except  in 
the  case  of  some  of  the  towns.     The  other  emancipated  colonies,  not 
excepting  Jamaica,  are  retrograding  fast  in  the  face  of  a  white  pop 
ulation,  and  notwithstanding  Government  influence :  in  the  United 
States,  spite  of  more  than   a  hundred   years  of  white  association, 
though  they  have  been  made  rather  superior  to  their  brethren  in 
Africa,  in  intellect  and  moral  character,  they  remain,  and  ever  will 
remain,  inferior  to  the  whites.     I  believe,  and  must  not  hesitate  to 
confess  my  belief,  the  negro  race  is  incapable  of  self-government ; 
and  I  suspect  its  present  condition  in  the  United  States  is  practically 
the  best  that  the  character  of  the  negroes  admits  of.      It  is  for  their 
happiness  and  interest  to  remain  in  tutelage — at  any  rate  for  two  or 
three  generations.     Is  there  any  part  of  Africa,  the  West  Indies,  or 
South  America,  where  three  millions  of  negroes  are  to  be  found  as 
comfortable,  intelligent,  and  religious,  or  as  happy,  as  in  the  South 
ern  States  ?    The  most  practical  mode  of  improving  a  semi-barbarous 
race  is  to  place  it  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  two  in  the  midst  of  a 
civilized  people.     The  system  of  slavery  has  been  blamed  for  the  ig 
norance  and  vices  of  the  Africans  :    are  they  less  ignorant  or  more 
virtuous  where  slavery  does  not  exist  ?     It  has  pleased  Providence  to 
make  them  barbarian,  and  as  barbarian  they  must  be  governed, 
however  Christian  may  be  the  principles  and  the  feelings  of  their  mas 
ters.     One  of  the  mistakes  we  make  is  to  attribute  to  a  black  the  ideas 
and  refined  feelings  of  a  white,  and  then  we  imagine  his  sufferings 
under  circumstances  of  comparative  degradation  ;  but  happily  what 
would  be  intolerable  to  the  refined  and  cultivated  is  easily  borne  by 
the  obtuse  and  ignorant.  '  God  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb.' 
That  evil  must  always  exist  under  any  system  of  almost  irresponsi- 


DEBTS    OF    THE    STATES.  217 

ble  power  is  certain  ;  and  there  are,  of  course,  painful  exceptions  to  the 
generally  kind,  parental,  and  just  rule  of  Southern  planters ;  but 
these  are  the  exceptions.  The  duty  of  Slave  States  and  slave-owners 
is,  by  law  and  practice,  to  limit  arbitrary  power.  The  condition  of 
the  race  at  present  admits  of  no  higher  government,  and  the  duty  of 
all  real  philanthropists  is  to  aid  and  support  the  masters  in  their 
efforts  to  ameliorate  painful  circumstances,  by  kind,  liberal,  and 
temperate  suggestions  of  such  correction  as  the  system  will  admit  of. 
As  the  Abolitionist  is  powerless,  he  should  feel  that '  moral  suasion' 
is  his  only  means  of  operating.  If  he  means  well  by  the  slave,  he 
will  not  create  angry  feelings  in  the  master  by  inflammatory  appeals 
to  his  people.  I  have  heard  individuals  lauded  for  giving  freedom 
to  their  slaves  ;  my  observations  lead  me  to  believe  that  such  people 
have  only  cast  off  an  onerous  and  painful  responsibility.  One  of  the 
most  intelligent  and  independent  black  men  I  ever  heard  of,  born 
free  in  Canada,  said,  '  I  know  enough  to  know  that  my  race  is  not 
either  happier  or  better  for  what  is  called  freedom.  I  would  myself 
rather  have  been  born  a  slave  ! '  He  was  asked  why  he  did  not  go 
to  Liberia.  '  No,'  he  said,  '  Republics  are  quite  .unfit  for  us — I  will 
have  nothing  to  do  with  them.' 

Hopeton,  February  12. — I  went  yesterday  through  a  forest  of 
Pinus  palustris  to  a  spot  where  it  is  Mr.  Cooper's  intention  to  build 
a  house  to  be  called  Altama.  It  will  be  beautifully  situated  on  the 
edge  of  a  pine  barren,  a  sloping  thicket  of  live  oaks,  magnolias, 
and  fan  palms,  on  one  side,  ending  in  rice  plantations,  with  distant 
forest  and  river  views  extending  towards  Darien.  This  place  was 
once  the  site  of  an  Indian  village,  and  I  picked  up  fragments  of  their 
pottery.  But  there  are  now  none  of  the  Aborigines  left  in  the 
Southern  States.  General  Jackson  removed  all  westward.  I  have 
had  some  conversation  with  Mr.  Hamilton  Cooper  about  the  mone 
tary  affairs  of  the  States.  He  says  my  remarks  respecting  the  local 
debts  are  just,  as  respects  a  few  of  the  States  and  cities,  but  that 
generally  they  are  trifling  when  compared  with  their  means  and  re 
sources.  In  1853,  the  aggregate  State  debt  was  about  fifty  millions 
sterling — that  of  Georgia  sixty-three  thousand.  Pennsylvania  is  the 


218  AN  UNFAVOURABLE  CONTRAST. 

most  indebted ;  but  there  the  debt  is  not  more  than  ten  per  cent,  on 
the  property  of  the  State.  Complaints  of  poverty  at  present  are 
temporary,  the  result  of  reckless  speculation.  Evidences  of  wealth 
and  prosperity  in  America  must  be  sought  for  among  the  masses, 
not  in  public  works  of  governmental  origin  ;  and  the  absence  of  ap 
pearance  in  State  capitals  must  not  be  mistaken  for  State  poverty. 
Money  is  laid  out  ;  but  it  is  expended  in  magnificent  hotels,  in  pri 
vate  residences,  churches,  schools,  banks,  railroads,  &c.,  <foc.,  in  all 
objects  ministering  to  individual  enjoyment  and  to  reproductive  pur 
poses.  Corporate  associations  do  all  those  things  required  for  public 
convenience  which  are  beyond  individual  ability,  but  public  build 
ings  and  public  works  are  generally  put  aside,  or  made  a  secondary 
consideration.  I  forgot  to  mention  that  there  are  from  three  to  four 
hundred  negroes  on  this  estate.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cooper  have  no  white 
servants;  their  family  consists  of  six  sons  and  two  daughters.  I 
should  not  like  to  inhabit  a  lonely  part  of  Ireland,  or  even  Scotland, 
surrounded  only  by  three  hundred  Celts.  I  believe  there  is  not  a 
soldier  or  policeman  nearer  than  Savannah,  a  distance  of  sixty  miles. 
Surely  this  speaks  volumes  for  the  contentment  of  the  slave  popula 
tion.  When  I  think  of  the  misery  and  barbarism  of  the  peasantry 
ofKintail,  and  other  parts  of  Scotland  (putting  aside  that  of  Ireland), 
and  look  at  the  people  here,  it  is  hardly  possible  not  to  blush  at  the 
recollection  of  all  the  hard  words  I  have  heard  applied  to  the  slave 
holder  of  the  South.  Why,  the  very  pigsties  of  the  negroes  are 
better  than  some  Celtic  hovels  I  have  seen.  Mr.  Cooper  is  under 
some  difficulty  about  a  negro  family  he  took  in  trust  to  manumit 
from  the  produce  of  their  own  labor.  The  poor  people  are  averse 
to  being  freed,  and  especially  to  being  sent  to  Africa.  It  certainly 
seems  a  cruelty  to  force  them  to  accept  that  which  they  consider  no 
boon.  I  believe  this  is  a  dilemma  by  no  means  rare. 

February  12. — Actually  another  white  frost ;  every  one  says 
such  cold  is  uncommon ;  I  find  the  weather  now,  much  like  ours  at 
this  time  of  year,  and  I  expect  the  Chamaorops  serrulata,  and  other 
plants  which  do  not  seem  affected  by  the  cold  we  have  here  now, 
will  be  quite  hardy  in  the  West  of  England.  The  red  maple  is  in 


ALLIGATORS.  219 

bloom  ;  I  have  not  ascertained  the  species  yet,  but  it  is  quite  new 
to  me,  and  a  very  showy,  elegant  thing.  Upon  looking  to  Elliot's 
Botany  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  I  find  this  tree  is  Acer 
rubra ;  it  has  a  smooth,  clouded  bark,  and  in  damp,  rich  soils 
becomes  a  large  tree ;  but  near  the  sea,  where  salt  forms  a  compo 
nent  part  of  the  soil,  it  dwindles  into  a  small  shrub.  I  have  been 
wandering  about  among  the  negro  dwellings,  seeing  the  ugly  babes 
and  still  uglier  old  people  ;  only  one  individual  in  bed  in  the  hospital, 
and  five  or  six  in  the  male  and  female  wards,  cowering  round  the 
fires.  Mr.  Cooper  tells  me  he  once  tried  the  capabilities  of  some  of 
the  most  active  among  his  people,  by  giving  them  the  cultivation  of 
fifty  acres  for  themselves ;  the  first  season,  under  direction,  the 
plantation  cleared  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  which  he  took  care  to  give 
them  in  silver,  hoping  that  would  excite  their  industry ;  the  next 
year,  left  to  their  own  management,  the  crop  lessened  one  half;  and 
the  third  season  they  let  the  land  run  to  waste,  so  that  it  was  use 
less  to  permit  them  to  retain  it.  Yet  these  very  same  people  will 
labour  readily  and  pleasantly  under  good  superintendence. 

In  warm  weather  alligators  are  frequently  seen,  but  now  they 
remain  torpid  in  their  watery  or  muddy  dens.  They  are  not  able  to 
pursue  and  catch  live  creatures  on  shore,  although  they  like  to  bask 
in  the  sun ;  but  if  a  young  negro  child,  a  calf,  or  a  pig,  lies  down 
carelessly  at  the  edge  of  the  water,  these  American  crocodiles  use 
their  tails  to  whisk  such  prey  down,  where  they  can  devour  it  at 
their  leisure.  A  Southern  lady  told  me  that  her  son  once  brought 
home  some  alligator's  eggs.  She  placed  them  upon  a  table  ;  forty- 
eight  hours  afterwards,  upon  hearing  a  black  girl  scream,  her 
mistress  rushed  down  stairs  :  the  warmth  of  the  parlour  had  hatched 
three  young  alligators,  two  were  running  about  the  room,  a  third 
had  been  thrown  out  of  the  window,  and  in  the  fright  of  the  moment 
all  were  killed,  to  the  grief  of  the  boy,  who  would  gladly  have 
made  them  pets. 

I  have  been  out  to  sketch  the  house  and  plantation  ;  the  air  is 
warm  and  genial — nothing  to  remind  us  of  this  morning's  frost. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


)  4y 


4' 


LETTER  XIX. 


HOPETON,  ALTAMAHA  EIVER,  GEORGIA,  ) 
Wednesday,  February  14,  1855.        f 

Mr  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  hope  my  last  letter  arrived  safely.  Mr.  Cooper  sent  down 
to  Darien  with  it,  so  there  is  a  good  margin  of  time  before  the  mail 
is  closed  for  the  24th  instant.  After  the  sharp  white  frost  of  Mon 
day,  we  had  rain  yesterday,  and  the  folks  here  hope  winter  has  at 
last  taken  his  departure  ;  there  is  a  bright  sun  this  morning,  and  I 
expect  to  see  vegetation  advance  rapidly,  when  once  it  fairly  starts 
for  the  summer.  Only  six  days  will  be  left  for  my  Florida  tour,  and 
yet  if  I  had  been  able  to  proceed  sooner,  the  weather  would  not 
have  been  favourable.  I  may  get  to  Palatka,  Friday  evening  ;  in 
the  next  three  days  the  orange-groves  and  Silver  Springs  must  be 
accomplished,  to  leave  one  clear  day  for  St.  Augustine,  where  I 
should  like  to  spend  a  week ;  but  we  must  return  to  Savannah,  so 
as  to  take  the  steamer  which  leaves  for  Charleston,  the  24th.  A 
glimpse  of  Florida  is  better  than  not  seeing  it  at  all ;  with  that  I 
must  be  content.  I  cannot  find  myself  dull  with  this  pleasant 
family  ;  yesterday  we  did  all  sorts  of  things,  just  as  I  should  have 
done  among  my  own  belongings  in  England.  We  cooked,  and 
drew,  and  studied  natural  history.  It  has  given  me  pleasure  myself 
to  pick  up  some  interesting  fresh-water  and  land  shells  in  the  rice 
ground  ;  then  I  like  to  hear  all  about  the  negro  weddings ;  how  the 


SLAVE    HONESTY.  221 

young  ladies  make  the  cake.  &c.  &c. ;  and  I  was  amused  by  an 
account  of  one  little  Topsy,  who  could  not  resist  cents  when  they 
fell  in  her  way  ;  her  mistress  thought  that  by  giving  a  few  to  her  to 
take  care  of,  she  might  be  brought  to  some  idea  of  mine  and  thine ; 
but  when  the  pence  were  asked  for,  they  had  vanished.  With  a 
sad  face  the  child  said,  '  All  gone  ;  somebody  tiefed  from  me.'  Soon 
afterwards  she  said  to  one  of  the  negro  girls,  'Me  very  sorry,  me 
could  not  help  ;  me  tiefed  from  myself.'  It  is  not  often  the  blacks 
of  this  country  are  dishonest,  but  they  sometimes  reason  in  this 
way  :  '  I  belong  to  massa,  all  massa  has  belongs  to  me; '  and  there 
is  some  difficulty  in  preserving  onions  or  fruits,  because  they  are 
thought  to  be  common  property ;  they  fish,  and  trap,  and  catch 
game ;  and  if  guns  were  allowed  them,  everything  would  be  de 
stroyed.  The  only  security  for  fish  and  game  is  keeping  the 
*  darkies '  well  employed ;  and  such  is  their  feeling  towards  their 
master,  that  in  some  cases  where  freshets  have  put  his  crops  in 
danger,  they  have  worked  freely  eighteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four,  for  three  weeks,  to  save  them — more  than  they  would  have 
done  for  themselves  in  such  a  case.  The  thanks  of  Mr.  Cooper,  and 
a  few  little  presents,  make  them  quite  happy :  they  are  devoted 
servants,  and  miserable  free  people.  This  fact  it  is  impossible  to 
state  too  often  or  too  decidedly.  The  Creator  of  men  formed  them 
for  labour  under  guidance,  and  there  is  probably  a  providential 
intention  of  producing  some  good  Christian  men  and  women  out  of 
it  in  time.  We  have  been  blindly  endeavouring  to  counteract  this 
intention  ;  we  have  thought  ourselves  wiser  than  our  forefathers  in 
all  points,  because  we  have  advanced  beyond  them  in  others ;  and 
it  has  been  the  habit  for  us  in  England  to  believe  ourselves  more 
religious,  and  virtuous,  and  benevolent  than  these  slaveholders; 
whereas,  I  fear  there  is  a  greater  amount  of  irreligion  and  vice  in 
one  town  of  ours,  or  of  the  Northern  States  here,  than  in  all  the 
Southern  States  put  together.  When  I  watch  the  kindness,  the 
patience,  the  consideration  shown  by  white  gentlemen  and  gentle 
women  towards  these  '  darkies,'  I  could  say  to  some  anti-slavery 
people  I  have  known, « Go  thou,  and  do  likewise.'  There  is  such  a 


222  BRUNSWICK. 

sense  of  security  in  this  country  that  doors  and  windows  are  as  often 
left  unfastened  at  night  as  not ;  and  a  slaveholder  told  me  he  had 
lived  alone  for  eight  years  among  his  negroes,  without  once  thinking 
it  necessary  to  lock  a  door  or  bar  a  window. 

February  15. — I  spent  two  hours  in  the  pine  barrens  and 
swamps  yesterday,  with  some  young  friends,  gathering  seeds  and 
taking  up  plants  which  I  am  going  to  send  to  England.  However 
beautiful  the  flowers  may  be  in  May,  this  season  is  more  advanta 
geous  to  a  gardener,  because  now  roots  can  be  moved  with  more 
safety.  Mr.  Cooper  will  go  with  me  to  Brunswick,  where  the  St. 
John  steamer  calls,  at  three  or  four  o'clock  to-morrow  morning,  in 
her  way  to  Palatka. 

St.  Augustine,  February  \  9. — Brunswick  is  little  more  than  the 
promise  of  a  future  town,  but  it  is  in  a  healthy  situation,  where 
there  might  be  a  fine  park,  at  present  there  is  only  an  hotel. 
Streets  are  marked  out,  and  there  are  many  pretty  detached  villas. 
Our  way  to  it  was  over  a  deep  sandy  road,  through  the  pine  barren, 
and  a  continual  undergrowth  of  that  palm  with  a  saw-like  stem,  and 
fan  leaf  (Chama3rops  serrulata),  from  the  leaves  of  which  pretty 
baskets  are  manufactured,  and  I  imagine  hats  might  be  made  equal 
to  those  of  Leghorn ;  it  grows  all  about  this  extensive  white  sand 
district,  as  thick  as  fern  with  us,  and  I  think  it  would  be  hardy  in 
the  southwestern  parts  of  England.  As  we  approached  Brunswick, 
fine  specimens  of  the  tree  or  cabbage  palmetto  were  by  the  wayside ; 
with  difficulty  we  took  up  young  ones  for  seedlings ;  some  run  so 
deep  into  the  ground  it  is  hard  to  move  them.  A  very  primitive 
kind  of  post-office  may  be  observed  in  these  forests  ;  boxes  without 
any  lock  nailed  to  a  tree,  into  which,  when  a  mail  passes,  letters  are 
occasionally  dropped. 

The  St.  John  steamer  arrived  soon  after  midnight,  but  the  tide 
did  not  rise  sufficiently  for  her  to  leave  till  near  three  in  the  morn 
ing,  because  she  would  not  have  been  able  to  cross  the  bar  of  the 
St.  John  River.  The  following  day  proved  bright  and  sunshiny, 
thouo-h  cold  for  the  climate :  in  the  North  the  weather  has  continued 

o 

severe,  with  deep  snow.     Before  entering  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of 


1'ALATKA. 


223 


the  St.  John  (or  Walaka)  River,  we  had  to  cross  the  open  sea  for 
some  miles.  I  saw  Palmettos,  at  least  seventy  or  eighty  feet  high, 
upon  the  sandbanks  as  we  entered  the  river ;  it  is  said  their  roots 
reach  to  the  clay  beneath,  but  they  do  not  appear  to  require  either 
rich  or  marshy  land.  The  sand  here  is  just  like  that  at  Bourne 
mouth  in  Hampshire;  but  on  this  coast  it  extends  over  many  hun 
dred  miles.  I  have  seen  nothing  else  all  the  way  from  Savannah ; 
it  has  evidently  been  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  above  it  is  a  bed  of 
shells,  much  resembling  those  of  Hordwell  Cliff,  in  England ;  and 
there  is  a  tract  of  still  more  recent  formation,  between  Brunswick 
and  Hopeton,  where  the  bones  of  the  megatherium,  &c.  <kc.,  are 
found  in  large  quantities.  A  railroad  is  at  present  left  in  an  un 
finished  state,  as  you  approach  Brunswick.  Some  of  these  days,  if 
it  is  carried  into  the  interior,  that  place  will  become  of  importance. 
We  touched  at  a  small  village  called  Mayport,  on  the  Walaka 
River;  there  the  steamer  grounded,  and  detained  us  for  some  hours, 
till  the  rise  of  the  tide.  I  went  on  shore  and  picked  up  a  curious 
little  prickly  fish,  a  plate  bone  of  an  alligator,  and  shells,  among 
them  some  curiously-shaped  oysters  and  delicate  little  pholases. 
We  got  off  about  four  o'clock,  and  proceeded  to  Jacksonville  ;  the 
sun  set  finely  before  we  reached  that  place.  This  water  resembles 
more  a  series  of  inland  lakes  than  a  river.  We  passed  Magnolia  and 
Picolata  in  the  night,  and  reached  Palatka  about  six  in  the  morn 
ing.  There  I  found  it  was  not  possible  to  get  any  conveyance  to  the 
Orange  Springs  before  Monday,  so  I  determined  to  return  as  far  as 
Picolata  in  the  steamer,  and  get  across  a  pine  barren  to  visit  St.  Au 
gustine,  as  there  will  be  time  enough  for  me  to  be  back  at  Palatka 
for  the  next  mail.  We  had  a  delightful  passage  down  again, 
through  the  still  calm  waters  of  the  wide  Walaka.  Each  shore 
fringed  by  live  oaks,  with  occasional  palmettos,  and  now  and  then  an 
orange-grove — but  oranges  are  very  scarce,  since  a  severe  frost  some 
years  ago  destroyed  nearly  all  the  trees.  I  have  seen  no  fruit  what 
ever,  since  the  oranges  and  bananas  imported  to  Charleston  from 
Cuba.  We  got  a  rough  carriage  at  Picolata ;  it  was  of  a  light 
description,  and  drawn  by  two  large  horses ;  but  the  deep  white 


224  A    SHELL    LAND. 

sand  continued  the  whole  eighteen  miles  to  St.  Augustine,  and  it 
took  us  nearly  five  hours  to  get  through  it.  I  begin  to  see  blossoms 
by  the  wayside ;  a  pretty  white  Rubus,  looking  like  a  single  rose, 
I  never  saw  before,  and  a  very  large  violet  without  scent,  a  pretty 
white  Tussilago,  or  aster-looking  plant,  about  three  inches  from  the 
ground  (Chaptalia),  the  white  star- like  Houstonia  in  bright  patches, 
and  the  fragrant  yellow  Gelucinum,  running  among  the  bushes,  and 
up  nearly  to  the  top  of  trees  in  occasional  swamps ;  a  tiny  white  vio 
let  below,  with  Andromedas,  Gordonias,  and  Yucca  filimentosa,  now 
and  then  by  the  side  of  our  track. 

We  crossed  the  branch  of  the  St.  Sebastian  River,  and  a  dis 
mal-looking  marsh  near  St.  Augustine.  Soon  after  my  arrival, 
President  Wheeler,  of  Burlington,  and  Mr.  Myers  took  me  to  see 
the  ancient  Spanish  fort,  built  of  Cucino,  a  stone  formed  entirely  of 
shell  debris.  This  is  a  shell  land  ;  houses  and  walls  made  of  shells, 
ground  made  of  shells.  I  have  got  some  recent  ones— a  fine  large 
pholas,  prima  mactras,  &c.  Ac.,  but  none  I  have  seem  to  have  the 
gorgeous  colouring  of  those  in  the  South.  Two  fine  date  trees  stand 
in  the  garden  of  Mr.  Myers's  house.  I  do  not  know  if  these  are 
remarkable  specimens,  but  they  have  far  exceeded  rny  expectations  ; 
the  regularly  tiled  bark,  crowned  by  feathery  foliage,  more  gigantic 
and  noble-looking  even  than  the  Palmetto  I  admire  so  much,  and 
the  fruit  (which  hangs  even  now  in  wreaths  between  the  leaves), 
when  it  has  its  golden  purplish  hue,  must  be  beautiful. 

I  am  disappointed  to  find  that  this  place  is  not  upon  the  main 
sea,  but  upon  the  St.  Sebastian,  which  is  rather  a  creek  than  a  river. 
The  streets  are  extremely  narrow,  and  in  general  appearance  the 
town  is  bare  and  dilapidated.  Here,  as  well  as  at  Bunswick,  a  rail 
road  would  soon  be  the  means  of  improvement  and  ultimate  pros 
perity  ;  but  I  suppose  there  is  not  capital  enough  to  construct  one 
even'over  this  flat  country,  with  timber  on  every  side  easily  turned 
into  sleepers ;  only  sixteen  miles  of  rail  would  reach  the  St.  John's 
(Walaka),  but  I  do  not  hear  of  any  proposition  to  make  it. 

Silver  Springs,  Florida,  February  21.— At  last  I  have  got  to 
this  place,  without  regretting  the  trouble  of  coming  two  hundred 


BOTANIZING.  225 

and  thirty  miles  from  Savannah,  although  my  journey  has  been  a 
tedious  and  difficult  one.  Even  with  my  superficial  knowledge  of 
geology,  I  find  the  features  of  this  country  very  interesting ;  both  at 
Ocala  and  here,  there  is  a  kind  of  chalk  and  greensand  with  the 
fossils  belonging  to  a  cretaceous  formation,  and  the  Silver  Spring 
bursts  forth  just  like  many  streams  and  springs  in  Dorsetshire,  clear 
and  bright  as  crystal ;  but  I  must  go  back  to  St.  Augustine  before  I 
say  more  about  this  part  of  Florida.  I  got  a  kind  of  open  vehicle 
with  four  horses,  which  in  five  hours  took  us  to  Picolata — there  the 
Charleston  steamer  Caroline,  which  would  take  passengers  on  to 
Palatka,  was  expected  ;  and  we  got  shelter  in  a  shed  belonging  to 
an  Englishman,  who  acted  as  postmaster.  It  rained  hard,  but  I 
took  my  umbrella  and  walked  out  to  look  for  plants  in  a  wood  near. 
Growing  by  a  shed,  I  found  a  Solamen,  new  to  me,  which  had  been 
brought  from  the  West ;  it  was  a  shrub  with  white  flowers  and  soft 
cottony  leaves  on,  and  growing  under  the  trees.  I  gathered  white 
blossoms  of  the  beautiful  little  creeping  Rubus  I  had  before  seen, 
like  a  small  white  rose  ;  it  resembled  one  much  both  in  leaves  and 
flowers.  I  also  picked  up  seeds  of  the  red  maple,  which  also  grows 
on  the  banks  of  the  Altamaha,  but  then  not  forward  enough. 

The  Caroline  came  about  five  o'clock ;  she  was  a  swift  boat, 
but  less  comfortable  in  point  of  accommodation  than  the  St.  John,  as 
the  ladies'  cabin  was  below,  and  there  was  no  pleasant  place  upon 
which  to  sit  out  upon  deck.  However,  as  the  evening  continued 
rainy,  that  did  not  signify.  We  reached  Palatka  about  eight ;  and 
by  nine  next  morning  a  comfortable  mail  carriage  with  four  horses  took 
us  in,  bound,  as  I  believed,  for  the  Silver  Spring,  a  place  about  seven 
ty-six  miles  from  hence.  If  I  had  known  that  we  should  not  arrive 
there  till  after  midnight,  fifteen  hours'  travel,  with  one  man  driving 
four  horses  through  a  pine  barren,  which  harbours  wolves,  bears, 
and  panthers,  my  courage  would  have  failed  me.  At  last,  when  we 
reached  our  journey's  end,  I  found  myself  not  at  the  Silver  Spring, 
but  at  a  place  called  Ocala,  which  I  had  never  before  heard  of;  and 
I  have  since  discovered  that,  owing  to  the  abuse  of  power  in  this 
republican  country,  I  was  made  to  go  six  miles  out  of  my  way,  be- 

11 


226  DEMOCRATIC    DESPOTISM. 

cause  the  postmaster,  who  has  a  small  boarding-house  near  the 
Spring,  was  not  a  supporter  of  this  President ;  so  the  democrats  got 
the  mail  altered  to  Ocala,  for  the  purpose  of  damaging  Mr.  Mann  ; 
and  although  there  might  be  a  practicable  water-carriage  by  the 
Ochlawaha,  straight  from  Palatka  to  the  Silver  Springs,  where  there  is 
a  perfect  inland  harbour  for  steamers,  which  ought  to  make  that 
place  a  considerable  one,  with  fair  usage, — that  harbour  has  been 
neglected  or  discouraged  ;  so  that  cotton  must  be  dragged  the  whole 
way  we  have  come  in  bullock-wagons.  Such  an  act  of  despotism 
could  never  have  been  perpetrated  in  monarchical  England  ;  after  all, 
the  most  truly  free  country  in  the  world. 

At  midnight,  cold,  wet,  and  dark,  we  at  last  reached  Ocala.  I 
fortunately  had  some  tea  with  me ;  I  begged  some  hot  water, 
and  a  black  girl  brought  in  one  hand  an  open  iron  pan,  with  the 
water  escaping  fast  out  of  a  hole ;  in  the  other,  the  remains  of  a 
china  teapot  without  spout  or  handle. 

'  Missus,  which  shall  I  make  it  in  ? ' 

I  said  we  had  better  put  the  tea  into  the  one  that  had  no  hole  in 
the  bottom,  and  so  we  made  something  like  tea.  Next  morning  I 
was  surprised  to  find  some  bits  of  greensand  rock  containing  fossils, 
which  first  made  me  suppose  there  must  be  something  like  chalk  in 
the  neighbourhood.  I  asked  where  there  had  been  digging,  and  Mrs. 

B ,  sister  to  the  landlord,  who  entered  into  the  matter,  proposed 

to  walk  with  me  to  a  spot,  through  the  nearest  hummock  (or  small 
wood),  where  there  had  been  an  abortive  attempt  to  sink  a  well. 
She  got  a  negro  boy  to  guide  us,  and  I  found  the  spot ;  a  shaft  had 
been  sunk  to  the  depth  of  sixty  feet,  and  there,  sure  enough,  were 
fossils,  Nummulites  ;  pectens,  &c.,  &c. 

At  first  I  was  told  it  was  not  possible  to  get  to  Silver  Spring. 
But  at  last,  with  some  difficulty  I  procured  two  one-horse  wagons, 

which  took  R and  me  to  the  little  cottage  hotel  near  the  Silver 

Spring,  from  whence  I  now  write ;  it  is  kept  by  the  postmaster,  Mr. 
Mann,  who  three  or  four  years  ago  bought  some  land,  and  settled 
here  from  Georgia.  He  and  his  good  wife  make  us  as  much  at  home 
as  they  can  by  the  side  of  their  comfortable  pine  blaze,  which  is  fire 


THE    SILVER    SPRING. 


227 


and  candle  in  one  ;  and  with  the  aid  of  a  feather  bed  and  blankets, 
I  did  not  suffer  from  cold  in  the  night,  although  the  roof  was  not 
wholly  closed  from  the  air,  and  light  showed  between  the  planked 
walls;  frost  outside.  For  twenty  years  such  severe  weather  has 
not  been  known  in  these  parts,  and  all  still  looks  wintry. 

I  have  been  in  a  little  boat  upon  the  bright  clear  water,  wnich 
in  some  places  is  forty  feet  deep,  issuing  freely,  I  suppose,  out  of  the 
greensand  rock  below,  which  looks  as  if  made  out  of  solid  aquama- 
rine— every  fish,  and  shell,  and  weed  is  perfectly  visible.  This  silver 
stream  flows  a  good  sized  river  five  miles,  and  then  joins  the  Ochla- 
waha,  which  runs  into  the  St.  John's  twenty  miles  above  Palatka ; 
and  though  it  may  be  double  the  land  distance  from  that  place,  the 
water  carriage  would  be  much  pleasanter  and  more  rapid  than  wa 
ding  through  about  seventy  miles  of  sandy,  swampy  pine  barrens.  I 
now  find  that  a  stage  which  passed  ours  on  the  road  actually  came 
straight  by  this  place  from  Palatka,  so  I  should  have  paid  twelve 
dollars  less,  and  we  should  have  arrived  here  some  time  earlier,  and 
not  have  had  the  difficulty  of  getting  back  again  here,  if  it  had 
suited  the  views  or  the  interests  of  Palatka  to  let  me  know  the  Silver 
Spring  was  nearer  than  Ocala  ; — but  I  find,  in  this  country,  travellers 
must  always  be  on  their  guard  against  false  information,  given  from 
the  selfish  rivalry  of  parties  or  individuals  ;  in  this  respect,  America 
is  worse  than  any  part  of  the  world  I  ever  before  visited.  Mr.  Rob 
ert  Chambers  was  either  much  mistaken  or  grossly  deceived  when 
he  published  a  letter  asserting  the  absence  of  imposition  at  the  hotels. 
For  less  real  comfort,  I  have  as  yet  been  made  to  pay  everywhere 
(with  the  one  exception  of  Cleveland  on  Lake  Erie)  far  more  than  in 
England ;  upon  an  average  at  about  ten  pounds  a  week  for  rny  maid 
and  self,  taking  our  meals  at  the  public  table,  and  without  a  private 
sitting-room.  This  exceeds  anything  I  ever  paid  in  any  country  in 
Europe;  and  there  is  neither  appeal  nor  redress.  Whether  you  dine 
out  every  day  or  not,  no  difference  is  made  in  your  hotel  expenses. 
It  is  true  you  may  generally  console  yourself  by  the  use  of  gorgeous 
mirrors,  silk  curtains,  and  splendid  carpets ;  but  few  travellers  wish 
for  this  kind  of  accommodation.  Mr.  Mann  drove  me  yesterday  to 


228  TIGER    CAT. 

see  the  plantation  of  Mr.  P ,  a  gentleman's  place,  where  there  is  a 

really  fine  grove  of  orange  trees  ;  they  are  indigenous,  some  of  them 
standing  in  a  clearing,  and  others,  as  undergrowth  in  the  forest,  ex 
tending  down  to  the  river  which  flows  from  the  Silver  Spring.  Some 
of  these  are  thirty  feet  high,  loaded  with  fruit  of  a  kind  called  here 
the  '  bitter-sweet ; '  they  are  good,  if  all  the  pulp  is  carefully  taken 
out ;  but  eaten  Without  that  operation  they  are  as  bitter  as  what  we 
call  Seville  oranges.  I  saw  several  little  green  paroquets  with  yellow 
heads,  the  only  kind  of  parrot  common  in  Florida.  Rattlesnakes  are 
frequent,  but  they  always  get  out  of  the  way,  if  they  can  ;  wolves  and 
panthers,  too,  are  only  dangerous  to  sheep  and  dogs.  A  gentleman 
hunting  in  this  neighborhood  lately,  on  a  mule,  the  animal  trod  up 
on  a  snake,  which  stung  him  so  that  he  died  in  a  few  minutes ;  and 
some  days  ago,  a  tiger  cat  jumped  out  upon  a  negro,  who  drove  it 
off  by  a  stab  with  his  knife  ;  but  the  man's  clothes  were  torn,  and  he 
was  so  terribly  frightened  that  he  could  give  no  clear  account  of  his 
assailant ;  these  are  the  only  casualties  from  wild  beasts  I  have  heard 
of,  and  1  have  seen  nothing  of  the  kind  to  alarm  me.  I  have  not 
even  got  a  sight  of  an  alligator  yet,  and  the  only  remarkable  birds  I 
have  observed,  were  a  bald-headed  eagle  on  the  Altamaha  River, 
and  a  very  dim-coloured  kite. 

From  the  inquiries  I  have  made,  and  my  own  observations,  I 
suspect  that  the  centre  part  of  Florida  was  once  an  island,  divided 
from  the  main  land  by  a  strait,  which  went  across  where  a  dismal 
swamp  may  now  be  seen  ;  the  sea,  probably,  extended  from  about 
St.  Augustine  to  Savannah,  across  to  Appalachicola  ;  and  from  thence, 
towards  Picolata  and  Alligator,  the  country  begins  to  rise ;  then 
comes  a  volcanic  and  then  the  chalk  district;  and  I  understand  there 
are  higher  limestone  ridges  further  south,  where  the  land  falls  down 
to  the  plains  of  the  Everglades  ;  a  tribe  of  Seminole  Indians  (so  called 
because  they  are  runaways  from  the  Creeks)  still  haunt  those 
Everglades.  The  United  States  Government  have  military  stations 
or  posts  to  prevent  them  from  coming  further  north  ;  and  some  en 
deavours  will  be  made  to  induce  them  to  follow  the  other  Indian 
nations  westward.  A  chief  once  consented  to  such  an  arrangement, 


OCALA. 


229 


but  his  people  refused  to  ratify  it.  The  wood  they  call  'kindling' 
(Pinus  palustris).  Game,  fish,  and  yams  are  so  plentiful  in  the 
South,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  poor  savages  are  loth  to 
emigrate  to  the  cold  north-west ;  but  their  fate  is  sealed ;  go  they 
must,  sooner  or  later,  before  the  encroaching  white  man ;  however 
sad,  there  is  no  alternative.  The  Indian  name  of  these  springs  is 
poetical  and  appropriate.  '  Chatawa  via  wa — Chatawa  via  na  wa' 
(Bright  flowing  river  of  silver  silent  waters).  We  have  been  living 
here,  in  Mr.  Mann's  open  log-dwelling,  with  only  him,  Mrs.  Mann, 

and  their  negroes,  sharing  pot-luck ;  R and  I  sitting  by  the 

blazing  pinewood  fire ;  little  niggers  at  our  feet ;  black  '  boys  and 
girls'  of  all  ages  coming  in  and  out,  and  leaning  and  gossiping  against 
the  fire-place,  whenever  they  '  minded.'  Mr.  Mann  said,  '  You  see 
how  it  is  ;  how  much  harder  I  and  my  poor  wife  work  than  these 
people  ;  I  would  gladly  give  them  all  away  for  one  good  white  ser 
vant;  their  food  and  clothing  cost  me  more  than  I  should  have  to 
pay  for  wages  ;  and  they  are  so  wasteful.  All  my  children  are  mar 
ried.  My  old  woman  and  I  could  be  much  more  comfortable  if  we 
were  not  hampered  by  fifteen  negroes.  I  should  not  like  to  sell 
them,  or  make  them  leave ;  it  is  a  hard  task  we  have ;  but  it  would 
be  such  a  distress  and  ruin  to  the  poor  things,  if  we  rid  ourselves  of 
them.1 

Ocala,  February  24. — In  the  afternoon  of  the  day  before  yester 
day,  I  returned  to  this  place ;  symptoms  of  a  chalky  country  the 
whole  way.  Before  sun-rise  the  next  morning  I  was  out.  Upon 
going  down  stairs  I  found  no  fastening  to  the  external  door  of  this 
house ;  but  a  light  chair  was  placed  against  it,  which  a  child  could 
have  pushed  aside.  What  an  evidence  of  the  security  of  property 
in  this  unguarded  slave  country,  when  locks  and  bolts  are  considered 
unnecessary.  Before  breakfast,  I  rambled  two  or  three  miles  into  a 
beautiful  forest  to  the  south-west,  without  the  smallest  fear  of  meet 
ing  anything  more  alarming  than  two  or  three  black  pigs,  which  are 
allowed  to  wander  at  will  after  roots  and  acorns ;  if  rattlesnakes  have 
finished  their  winter-nap,  they  are  not  up  so  early.  Everything 
around  was  bright  and  tranquil — magnolias,  streaming  epiphytes, 


230  'OLD  DICK'S'  VIEW  OF  SLAVERY. 

and  palmettos,  looked  so  foreign,  that  when  I  crane  to  what  in 
Devonshire  would  be  called  a 'gully,' in  this  usually  flat  country, 
and  saw  a  stump  covered  with  one  of  the  English  feather  mosses 
(Hypnum  proliferum),  I  was  quite  surprised.  In  a  clearing,  upon 
ray  return  towards  this  little  town  of  seven  years'  existence,  I  met 
an  old  negro,  sitting  upon  his  bullock-cart  We  had  a  long  conver 
sation  :  he  asked  about  England,  and  seemed  anxious  to  talk  of 
the  condition  of  his  race,  and  their  prospects  in  Liberia ;  he  was  by 
far  the  most  intelligent  negro  I  ever  met  with.  He  told  me  he  had 
worked  for  himself  at  odd  times,  and  had  accumulated  enough  to 
buy  his  own  freedom  ;  he  purposes  doing  this,  and  going  to  Liberia, 
he  and  his  wife,  with  the  view  of  guiding  and  improving  his  fellow 
blacks.  He  thinks  the  slaves  unfit  for  freedom  in  the  mass;  that 
only  those  who  have  been  raised  for  a  generation  or  two  among  the 
whites  can  be  induced  to  work ;  and  that  some  few,  who  like  him 
self  have  got  improved  habits,  may  go  back  to  do  good  in  Africa. 
Old  Dick  would  not  have  stopped  the  slave  trade ;  '  No,  ma'am ; 

bring  them  away  to  make  them  better.'     Mr.  G ,  an  excellent 

Episcopalian  missionary  and  clerygman  here,  who  was  educated  in 
the  North,  is  of  the  same  opinion.  No  one  can  live  long  in  this 
country  without  being  convinced  of  the  want  of  real  information,  and 
the  injudicious  tendency  of  Uncle  Tom.  He  says  such  books,  how 
ever  popular  and  ingenious,  are  false  in  fact,  and  therefore  bad  in 
principle ;  and  I  have  already  seen  enough  fully  to  concur  in  that 
conclusion.  Untruth  will  never  promote  Christianity ;  and  those 
who  sincerely  desire  to  advance  the  cause  of  the  negro  should  remain 
for  some  months  in  the  Southern  States  of  America ;  not  with  the 
view  of  strengthening  their  own  prejudices,  but  single-minded,  and 
with  a  simple  intention  to  seek,  and  to  accept,  such  information  as 
really  may  enable  them  to  understand  what  will  benefit  their  fellow- 
creatures.  I  spent  yesterday  in  visiting  every  quarry  and  opening 
which  might  enable  me  to  comprehend  the  geological  features  of 
this  neighbourhood.  Chalk  and  flint  and  greensand  abound  ;  and 
I  can  hear  of  no  other  formations  within  any  reasonable  distance.  I 
found  strong  evidence  of  the  up-heaving  by  volcanic  action — fossils 
plentiful;  but  I  found  no  gryphites,  scaphites,  or  nautili. 


PANTHERS. 

This  morning,  we  return  as  far  as  the  Orange  Springs,  for  I  shall 
not  again  be  inveigled  into  a  fifteen  hours'  journey  through  the  sand 
barrens. 

Palatlca,  February  25. — Our  stage  did  not  leave  Ocala  before 
eleven  o'clock.  It  was  delayed  by  the  non-arrival  of  the  mail  from 
Tampa,  a  place  a  hundred  miles  to  the  south-west.  A  crow  in  this 
country  makes  a  noise  just  like  the  bark  of  a  dog.  The  deer,  which 
are  still  frequently  shot,  are  of  small  size;  their  horns  have  never 
more  than  five  or  six  points  ;  their  weight  from  eighty  to  one  hun 
dred  and  sixty  pounds.  There  are  panthers  measuring  twelve  feet 
from  the  nose  to  the  tip  of  the  tail,  which  occasionally  carry  off  cows 
and  oxen.  A  large  one  destroyed  some  pigs  close  to  Palatka. 
Several  gentlemen  pursued  the  animal.  It  took  refuge  in  a  large 
swampy  hummock;  the  hunters  then  sent  their  dogs  to  get  the 
beast  out,  but  of  thirteen  only  eight  ever  appeared  again,  and  it  was 
concluded  that  the  other  five  were  killed  by  the  panther.  Unless 
alarmed,  or  wounded,  they  have  never  been  known  to  attack  a  man. 
After  a  tedious  journey,  we  reached  Orange  Springs  by  seven  in  the 
evening.  I  got  a  carriage  very  early,  and  went  to  breakfast  with 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  L ,  who '  are  roughing  it  in  the  Bush.'    They  gave 

me  excellent  bread  and  butter,  which  was  a  treat  after  the  hot  rolls 
and  buckwheat  cakes  most  usually  met  with  in  America.  I  saw  the 
sulphur  springs  and  lakes,  which  may  have  once  been  volcanic  sinks, 
and  got  back  to  Mr.  Dickenson's  boarding  house  hi  time  for  the  de 
parting  stage.  The  weather  proved  wet,  and  our  journey  back  to 
Falatka  dreary. 

February  26. — I  saw  a  bone  here  last  night  seven  feet  long  and 
three  inches  wide,  wavy  in  form,  and  apparently  recent.  Some  one 
suggested  that  it  might  have  belonged  to  a  sea-cow.  It  did  not  re 
semble  the  rib  of  a  whale,  though  it  might  belong  to  the  head  of  a 
large  one.  I  sketched  the  form,  not  being  able  to  guess  what  crea 
ture  had  ever  owned  it.  As  the  Walatka  steamer  makes  a  trip  of 
thirty-two  miles  up  the  North  Creek,  one  of  the  branches  of  this 
*  river  of  lakes '  (a  translation  of  the  Indian  name  of  Walatka,  the 
St.  John),  I  took  the  Charleston  boat  as  far  as  Jacksonville,  and 


232  JACKSONVILLE. 

went  on  board  that  for  Savannah  at  night.  Jacksonville  is,  to  my 
fancy,  the  prettiest  town  between  Brunswick  and  Palatka,  There  is 
a  lare;e  hotel ;  and  in  consequence  of  a  destructive  fire  last  year, 
good  brick  houses  and  shops  are  rising  up.  In  one  of  the  sandy 
alleys  at  the  back  of  the  place,  I  found  some  lumps  of  porphyritic 
rock,  much  to  my  surprise,  for  I  could  not  believe  they  belonged  to 
this  modern  land.  After  some  inquiry,  I  found  they  had  been 
brought  here  as  ballast.  I  went  into  a  store,  where  I  bought  alli 
gator's  teeth,  limes,  and  a  nice  little  map  of  Florida.  Professor 
Baird,  of  Washington,  gave  me  a  note  of  introduction  to  Dr.  Bald 
win  ;  but  unfortunately  the  doctor  was  away  from  home,  so  I  did 
not  succeed  in  getting  some  botanical  information  I  hoped  for.  Mrs. 
Baldwin  was  very  obliging :  she  gave  me  a  fine  specimen  of  coral 
from  Key  West.  This  name  is  a  corruption  of  the  Indian-Spanish 
words,  '  Chicao  hueso,  Key  of  Bones.'  We  shall  touch  there,  in  our 
way  from  Charleston  to  Cuba.  After  making  a  sketch  at  Jackson 
ville,  I  got  on  board  the  Walaika  before  sunset,  and  after  a  success 
ful  though  cold  voyage  of  two  nights  and  one  day,  we  reached 
Savannah  by  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  February  28th.  My 
friends,  Miss  T and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  II ,  received  us  very  hos 
pitably.  Miss  T took  me  a  drive  to  call  upon  Dr.  Turner,  my 

fellow  sufferer  in  the  Seminole  accident,  who  took  such  charge  of  me 
as  far  as  Hopeton.  I  was  delighted  to  visit  his  cottage,  where  I 
found  him  very  busy  gardening,  and  I  learned  a  new  and  ingenious 
mothod  of  cultivating  strawberries.  He  almost  promises  to  meet  me 
at  Chittanoge,  if  I  will  make  my  way  into  Tennessee  from  New 
Orleans.  I  will  try.  Before  seven  o'clock  Mr.  II—  -  took  me  on 
board  the  Calhoun.  The  night  was  bright,  but  very  cold,  and  an 
adverse  wind  and  rough  sea  prevented  the  steamer  from  reaching 

Charleston  before  six  o'clock  next  morning.     Mr.  and  Mrs.  H 

expected  me  to  breakfast ;  and  after  three  successive  nights  spent  on 
board  three  steamers,  without  taking  off  my  clothes,  the  prospect  of 
three  quiet  days  in  their  comfortable  house  was  very  consoling.  My 
chalk  fossils  and  pretty  ferns  excite  an  interest  among  some  of  my 
friends  here.  Professor  Gibbs  spent  some  time  in  looking  over 


CHARLESTON.  233 

these  acquisitions,  and  Mrs.  H—  -  promises  to  plant,  and  watch 
over  all  the  living  plants  this  next  summer,  and  then  she  will  forward 
them  to  meet  me  at  Boston  next  September,  when  I  hope  my 
Ward's  case  will  transport  them  safely  to  England.  But  the  weather 
continues  extremely  cold — I  am  assured  quite  unusually  so  for  this 
part  of  the  world  :  it  is  quite  as  bitter  as  our  coldest  March.  I  often 
think  of  the  poor  troops,  for  it  seems  this  long  severe  winter  has  ex 
tended  to  Europe  as  well  as  America.  It  has  been  a  great  disap 
pointment  to  find  no  letters  here  :  not  one  line  have  I  received  from 
England  of  later  date  than  the  9th  of  January,  and  this  is  the  3rd 
of  March;  but  I  trust  mails  are  awaiting  us  at  Cuba.  We  are  a 
month  later  in  going  to  that  island  than  I  expected ;  so  I  have  lit 
tle  doubt  but  Mr.  Crampton  has  forwarded  letters  there.  Yesterday 
I  spent  some  hours  gardening  with  Mrs.  II .  I  have  endeav 
oured  to  reconcile  the  pretty  fern  from  Scott's  Springs  near  Ocala,  to 
grow  away  from  its  chalky  locality  by  scraping  lime  off  a  wall ;  but 
it  is  so  fairy-like  and  fragile  in  appearance,  I  fear  it  is  of  a  tender,  fan 
ciful  nature ;  and  the  sheltered  arched  cave  and  dripping  stalactite  of 
Florida  is  very  unlike  any  home  I  can  find  for  it.  However,  I  have 
plenty  of  specimens  in  my  press,  and  if  the  plants  die  I  must  be  con 
tent  with  their  lifeless  forms.  We  embark  to-morrow  morning  in 
the  Isabel  for  Cuba — another  three  days'  voyage  ;  but  there  will  be  a 
fine  moon,  and  at  last  I  hope  to  leave  winter  behind  me.  There 
seems  little  hope  of  getting  away  from  it  until  we  reach  a  tropical 
climate.  Every  one  here  is  shivering  and  complaining  of  such  unu 
sual  cold — for,  of  course,  southern  dwellings  are  ill  prepared  to  com 
bat  it — and  the  poor  trees  and  shrubs  look  unhappy  under  this 
northern  treatment.  I  have  sent  boxes  of  seeds  and  plants  to 
Dorsetshire;  of  course,  the  weather  is  also  unfavourable  for  their 
travels,  and  I  fear  it  may  render  them  of  little  value  ;  but  still  it  is 
of  no  use  to  keep  seeds  through  another  season.  The  mail  goes  to 
day.  I  shall  like  to  know  when  my  packet  reaches  home. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 
Charleston,  March  3,  1855. 

11* 


LETTEK  XX. 

ON  BOAKD  THE  ISABEL,          ) 

BETWEEN  KEY  WEST  AND  CUUA,  } 

March  7,  1855.  ) 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

In  spite  of  the  rocking  of  this  steamer,  I  can  write  this  morn 
ing  ;  and  I  want  to  tell  you  some  things,  which  may  be  shoved  out 
of  my  memory  by  the  excitement  and  novelty  of  Cuban  scenes. 
The  day  before  leaving  Charleston,  I  spent  some  time  at  the  Mu 
seum,  where  Mr.  Holmes,  the  curator,  thinks  that  my  brown  Florida 
flints,  although  they  strike  fire,  are  not  analogous  with  the  black 
flints  in  England.  As  I  found  no  scaphites,  or  nautiluses,  and  no 
real  terebratulse,  Mr.  Holmes  thinks  my  chalk  is  of  the  same  date  as 
the  cretaceous  formations  of  Carolina  and  Alabama.  I  have  not 
seen  them,  so  I  cannot  judge;  but  with  the  exception  of  whatever 
paleontological  differences  there  may  be  (of  which  I  am  not  learned 
enough  to  judge),  Florida  chalk  and  Dorset  chalk  are  twin  sisters; 
yet  it  requires  exact  knowledge  to  distinguish  old  red  sandstone  from 
the  new  red  by  the  general  appearance  of  either ;  so  I  suppose  there 
is  some  resemblance  between  these  chalky  sisters,  and  that  new 
chalk  and  old  chalk  are  difficult  to  distinguish:  but  this  matter 
must  be  settled  by  a  wiser  geologist  than  I  pretend  to  be.  I  have 
heard  of  the  genuine  sea-serpent  at  last !  You  know  I  always  ad 
vocated  the  reality  of  such  a  reptile — partly  founded  upon  its  ad 
mission  into  the  Scandinavian  Mythology,  in  which  every  symbol 


THE  GENUINE  SEA  SERPENT.  235 

was  borrowed  from  Nature.  Last  spring,  when  Captain  Peat,  of  the 
steamer  William  Seabrook,  was  going  up  an  island  portion  of  the 
Savannah  River,  he  as  well  as  his  crew  and  passengers  saw  a  gigan 
tic  serpent  just  before  the  vessel ;  it  quickly  disappeared ;  a  notice 
of  the  circumstance  was  inserted  in  a  local  newspaper,  and  treated 
with  the  usual  incredulity.  Captain  Rollins  of  this  ship  says,  he, 
like  the  rest  of  the  world,  disbelieved  the  report;  but  the  next  day, 
during  the  passage  of  his  steamer  to  Savaunah,  on  approaching  the 
bar  of  St.  Helens,  he  was  called  by  his  look-out  man  to  see  '  the 
biggest  log  that  ever  was.'  On  looking  through  his  telescope,  he 
clearly  saw  that  the  object  in  question  was  no  tree,  but  a  monster  as 
long  as  the  Isabel  herself,  in  rapid  motion ;  as  he  watched  it,  it 
reared  its  snake-like  body  and  head  high  out  of  the  water  as  the 
funnel  of  the  steamer,  looked  about  for  an  instant,  and  then  plunged 
down,  leaving  a  swirling  eddy  where  it  had  shown  itself.  No  rea 
sonable  person  acquainted  with  the  calm  seaman-like  character  of 
Captain  Rollins,  will  suspect  him  of  either  exaggeration  or  error  in 
describing  a  fact;  but  this,  I  believe,  is  the  first  time  that  the  sea- 
serpent  has  been  supposed  to  be  seen  or  heard  of  in  southern  lati 
tudes  :  it  is  probably  a  denizen  of  the  deep  seas  which  rarely  and  ac 
cidentally  gets  into  shallower  water;  and  if  it  is  an  uncommon 
creature,  I  think  the  argument  that  no  bone  or  skeleton  has  ever 
been  found,  cannot  stand  against  such  strong  evidence  as  we  have 
of  its  existence  :  there  may  be  some  weight  or  property  in  the  skele 
ton  which  prevents  any  part  of  it  from  rising  to  the  surface  out  of 
the  sea  caves  where  it  usually  lives  and  dies. 

I  was  fortunate  in  finding  my  old  friend  G.  P embarking  in 

the  Isabel  at  the  same  time  as  myself:  his  society  and  aid  will 
make  not  only  my  voyage  but  my  residence  in  Cuba  much  more 
agreeable;  for  as  his  physician  has  ordered  him  to  counterbalance 
the  effects  of  an  unusually  severe  winter  by  a  visit  South,  he,  like 
myself,  has  no  other  objects  but  information  and  amusement;  so  I 
hope  to  benefit  by  his  assistance  as  well  as  his  company.  The  voy 
age  of  three  days  and  three  nights  from  Charleston  was  very  pleasant ; 
we  had  calm  weather,  and  a  splendid  moon ;  and  although  upon 


23G  LIGHTHOUSE. 

running  a  few  hundred  miles  between  the  Gulf  Stream  and  the  coral 
reefs  and  islands  south  of  Florida,  there  was  sufficient  motion  to  af 
fect  all  the  extremely  sensitive  of  our  party,  neither  R nor  I 

were  ill  for  a  moment. 

Two  small  Government  vessels,  with  surveyors,  were  occupied  in 
raising  beacons  at  intervals  along  the  reefs.  Upon  one  of  them  I 
saw  an  erection  quite  novel  to  me ;  a  residence  and  lighthouse,  built 
upon  an  apparently  transparent  iron  framework,  about  forty  feet  in 
height,  so  that  the  waves  of  the  sea  pass  through  the  foundation  in 
stead  of  undermining  it ;  a  retired  naval  master  lives  with  his  family 
in  charge  of  this  useful,  but  alarmingly  fragile- looking  establishment. 
He  has  a  small  yacht,  in  which  he  or  some  of  his  household  occa 
sionally  visit  the  mainland,  and  I  believe  they  reside  in  their  airy 
dwelling  without  apprehension,  although  a  few  years  ago,  when 
every  house  on  Key  West  was  inundated  during  the  most  violent 
storm  ever  known,  a  lighthouse  built  upon  the  most  southern  point 
of  the  United  States  territory,  on  a  very  small  island  in  the  sea,  was 
washed  away  witli  all  its  residents. 

The  captain  told  me  that  when  about  a  mile  from  the  Florida 
coast,  he  sometimes  could  distinguish  bears  walking  about  on  shore, 
and  he  pointed  out  a  small  island  in  the  chain  which  extends  from 
the  mainland  down  to  Key  West,  which  a  few  years  ago  was  inhab 
ited  by  a  settler  and  his  family.  The  Indians  came  forty  miles  in 
canoes,  attacked  the  place,  and  murdered  every  individual  ex 
cept  the  wife  and  daughters  of  the  master,  who  crept  in  among 
some  sand  and  lumber  under  a  small  wharf.  After  makino-  them- 

O 

selves  too  drunk  to  look  after  these,  the  Indians  left  the  island,  so 
that  a  few  days  afterwards  the  women  were  rescued  unhurt.  Now, 
the  United  States  troops  have  enclosed  the  savages  within  a  certain 
district,  where  they  can  do  no  injury,  and  eventually  they  will  be 
got  off  after  the  other  tribes,  westward.  It  was  with  regret  that  I 
found  it  beyond  midnight  before  we  reached  Key  West;  as  the 
steamer  only  stayed  half  an  hour  while  she  landed  a  few  passengers 
and  some  goods,  I  could  only  go  for  a  few  minutes  on  shore,  and  my 
first  introduction  to  cocoa-nut  trees  was  by  moonlight.  However, 


APPROACH    TO    THE    HARBOUR. 


237 


we  were  lucky  to  have  a  moon.  I  picked  up  a  few  stones  that  I 
might  sec  what  the  land  was  made  of,  and  afterwards  remained  on 
deck  till  two  o'clock,  so  as  to  see  the  fine  revolving  light  of  a  house 
about  nine  miles  out  at  sea.  I  was  on  deck  as  soon  as  the  Cuban 
land  could  be  distinguished,  and  we  had  a  charming  run  down  to 
the  island — flying  fish  among  the  waves,  and  the  elegant  man-of- 
war  birds  sailing  about  over  our  heads.  In  general  outline,  the 
island  is  straighter  and  less  mountainous  than  I  expected ;  it  did  not 
look  more  elevated  than  the  cliffs  of  Brighton,  in  some  places  white 
and  chalky  in  appearance.  But  nothing  can  be  more  picturesque 
than  the  Moro,  and  the  entrance  into  a  beautiful  and  extensive  har 
bour.  At  a  distance  the  hill  upon  which  the  Cabanos  fortress 
stands  has  a  resemblance  to  what  is  called  the  Look-out  at  Wey- 
mouth ;  but,  as  you  near  it,  it  has  a  much  more  rugged  appearance, 
and  it  is  as  if  rent  and  cloven  by  volcanic  action.  A  Moorish-look 
ing  battery,  or  wall,  standing  upon  each  fragment,  it  looks  a  very 
strong  place.  I  must  not  sketch  here  without  special  permission 
from  the  Capitan-Generale.  I  never  saw  any  harbour  filled  by  a 
more  interesting  assemblage  of  ships.  English  men-of-war  (my 
heart  jumped  at  the  sight  of  that  flag),  a  very  fine  Spanish  steamer, 
the  Princeton,  a  handsome  American,  and  many  of  their  schooners 
which  are  so  specially  airy  and  graceful.  By-the-bye,  at  Key  West, 
I  saw  a  Governmental  United  States  schooner  with  three  masts, 
which  was  to  me  a  new  kind  of  craft.  A  boat,  containing  a  messen 
ger  from  Madame  Almy's  boarding-house,  took  us  on  shore  towards 
the  bright,  gay,  Spanish-looking  town.  We  were  detained  for  half 
an  hour  in  a  cool,  clean  building,  with  iron  railings  on  one  side, 
through  which  peeped  Spanish  and  negro  and  mulatto  eyes,  eager  to 

seek  employment  in  carrying  baggage  for  strangers.     Mr.  P 

and  I  walked  up  to  the  hotel.  From  the  descriptions  I  have  read  of 
Spain  and  Italy,  I  should  suppose  its  appearance  and  our  reception 
such  as  I  should  expect  at  Seville  or  Cordova.  A  fine  English-look 
ing  coach,  with  gaudy  hammercloth,  had  its  domicile  on  the  ground- 
floor.  It  belongs  to  the  mistress  of  the  mansion,  who  occupies  it 
during  her  evening  drive  on  the  Pasco.  She  speaks  English,  being 


238  THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    MOVEMENT. 

Anglo- American  born,  and  Cuban  by  marriage.  Ladylike  in  man 
ner  and  deportment,  she  takes  her  post  in  the  society  of  her  house, 
and  manages  the  concern  with  the  assistance  of  a  housekeeper.  The 
rooms  are  comfortable,  and  the  table  is  well  served.  The  interior 
laid  out  in  open  galleries,  and  high  rooms  with  painted  cornices  and 
ceilings,  have  the  look  and  arrangement  (I  imagine)  of  an  old 

Spanish  palace.     In  the  evening,  Mr.  P took  me  a  drive  in  a 

volante  round  the  town  and  its  environs.  After  all  I  had  heard  of 
the  peculiarities  of  the  habits,  dress,  and  social  customs  of  the 
Cubans,  still  I  was  surprised  ;  for  it  appears  to  me  that  Havana  is 
more  Spanish,  more  Moorish,  more  unlike  Europe,  and  resembling 
more  what  I  fancy  Spain  might  have  been  in  the  time  of  Charles  V. 
than  anything  my  imagination  conceived.  The  wheels  of  the  vo- 
lantes  were  higher  and  more  eccentric.  The  negro  drivers,  in  their 
costume  and  jack- boots,  surpassed  the  old  French  postilions.  The 
ladies,  in  full-dress  evening  gowns,  decolletees,  short-sleeved,  and 
coiffees,  as  if  for  a  London  evening  party.  The  houses  flat-roofed, 
many-coloured,  and  Moorish-looking  ;  the  trees  generally  new  to  me, 
and  the  flowers  strange  ;  the  horses,  with  their  plaited  tails  tucked 
up  on  one  side,  stiff  and  inelegant;  negro  soldiers  in  straw  hats,  and 
mulatto  women  in  gay  turbans ;  all  this,  added  to  unknown  tongues, 
and  a  splendid  southern  sky,  mystified  me,  and  made  me  feel 
dreamy,  as  I  had  never  felt  before  ;  and  yet  I  have  looked  at  some 
accounts  of  Cuba,  and  read  Cuba  as  It  is.  I  wonder  whether  any 
body  ever  did  acquire  clear  ideas  of  distant  countries  and  strange 
manners  by  reading,  or  by  hearing  of  them. 

There  are  many  more  African-looking  negroes  here  than  in  the 
Southern  States  of  America.  Perhaps  the  Anti-Slavery  movement, 
although  mistaken  in  its  objects,  may  have  providentially  intended 
to  raise  and  educate  an  improved  negro  race  without  fresh  importa 
tion,  for  the  purpose  of  ultimately  civilizing  and  Christianizing 
Africa.  I  don't  think  that  negroes  from  Cuba  would  be  likely  to 
regenerate  or  improve  their  race.  I  believe,  on  good  authority,  that 
the  free  blacks  here  are  profligate  and  irreligious;  and  they  look  far 
less  happy  than  their  brethren  in  seivitude. 


MRS.  CRAUFORD'S  RECEPTION.  239 

February,  29. — I  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  morning  bargain 
ing  for  some  articles  of  attire.  Shopping  here  is  conducted  quite 
after  a  Turkish  fashion ;  you  are  expected  to  bargain,  and  consider, 
and  discuss  for  an  hour,  before  you  conclude  a  purchase.  Ladies 
seldom  go  into  a  shop ;  the  best  part  of  its  contents  are  brought  to 
their  residences,  or  displayed  in  the  volantes  in  which  they  drive  to 
the  shop-door;  and  three  times  the  price  intended  to  be  taken  is 
often  asked  in  the  first  place  ;  then  the  buyer  offers  three  times  less 
than  she  intends  to  give,  and  at  last,  after  many  objections  and  re 
monstrances  on  both  sides,  the  bargain  is  struck — a  sad  waste  of 
time  and  profanation  of  truth;  but  it  is  useless  to  rebel  against 

Spanish  custom.     Before  breakfast  G.  P took  me  out  walking 

by  the  harbour  to  the  market,  where  the  brilliant-coloured  fish  and 
the  strange-looking  fruits  were  very  interesting.  I  was  surprised  to 
see  great  pholases  (one  of  the  boring  shell-fish)  as  an  article  of  food, 
and  numerous  other  bivalves  which  did  not  look  tempting.  We 
afterwards  visited  the  garden  in  front  of  the  Capitan-Generale's 
palace.  There  were  fine  palm  trees,  which  at  first  I  mistook  for 
dates.  1  am  quite  puzzled  by  the  trees  here,  as  they  are  so  strange  ; 
for,  though  we  may  be  well  acquainted  with  tropical  flowers  in  our 
hot-houses,  the  larger  products  are  of  course  less  known  to  us ;  and 
as  yet  I  have  found  no  one  here  who  can  give  me  botanical  informa 
tion.  The  Spaniards  are  accused  of  eradicating  trees  as  much  as 
possible ;  and  certainly  I  do  not  see  anything  like  groves  around 
Havana — only  avenues,  and  occasional  rows  of  palms.  Mrs.  Crau- 
ford,  the  Consul's  lady,  will  have  a  pic-nic  to-morrow  in  the  most 
shady  garden  known  here,  because  it  is  a  deserted  residence. 

March  10. — Last  night  I  went  to  Mrs.  Crawford's  reception,  in 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  houses  I  have  yet  seen  here.  It  was  built 
by  a  wealthy  gentleman,  and  as  he  is  for  the  present  residing  with 
his  wife  at  Paris,  he  has  let  his  house  to  the  British  Consul.  The 
entrance  (like  that  of  the  most  of  the  palaces  here)  is  a  high, 
Moorish-looking  hall,  with  a  porte  cochere  ;  from  this  springs  a  fine, 
geometrically-built  stone  staircase,  leading  first  to  a  music-gallery ; 
tesides  other  rooms,  a  splendid  drawing-room  and  ante-room,  the 


240  A    SPANISH    DOG. 

one  with  an  ornamental  marble  floor,  the  other  en  parquet,  of  a  pat 
tern  elaborately  worked  in  various  woods ;  Pompeian  ceilings ;  a 
beautifully  ornamented  dressing-room,  and  a  bedroom  beyond — 
recherchees,  and  in  good  taste.  I  was  introduced  to  all  our  naval 
officers,  as  well  as  to  the  Americans  in  harbour.  I  drove  there  and 
back  in  a  volante  al  fresco  ;  although  in  an  evening  dress,  it  was 
perfectly  warm  and  pleasant.  The  interior  of  the  houses,  with  their 
spacious  windows,  entrances  open  to  view  and  well  lighted,  looked 
gay  and  cheerful,  as  we  went — returning  at  half-past  ten,  I  was  not 
quite  without  apprehension,  as  I  was  told  robberies  were  frequent  at 
that  hour ;  however,  we  safely  arrived  at  our  hotel  in  the  street  of 
the  Inquisitor.  In  my  room  everything  which  passes  out  of  doors 
can  be  distinguished,  and  the  noise  and  chattering  is  unceasing. 
Last  night  I  was  amused  to  hear  an  English  sailor  trying  to  com 
prehend  a  Spanish  companion ;  it  seemed  evident  the  latter  had 
given  Jack  Tar  a  dog,  but  Jack  was  complaining  it  did  not  under 
stand  English.  The  Spaniard  said  something  in  reply,  and  then 
Jack  rolled  down  the  street,  vociferating  'Venga  Cane — venga  Cane ! ' 
In  the  morning,  I  heard  an  American  gentleman  declaring  that 
something  he  was  asked  to  do  would  be  'as  much  trouble  as  taking 
charge  of  a  lady.'  I  rose  early,  and  while  sitting  writing  near  the 
large  open  window  of  my  room,  in  the  highest  of  these  low  houses 
(it  has  a  stone  balcony,  with  a  strong  iron  grating  upon  the  external 
edge,  closed  at  the  top,  so  that  nothing  can  ever  fall  out),  I  suddenty 
saw  a  tall  broom,  like  those  used  by  housemaids  for  lofty  halls  in 
England,  swaying  about  within  my  grating;  in  a  moment  it  swept 
off  a  little  flower-pot,  and  dashed  it  to  atoms  in  the  street  below.  I 
rushed  to  see  the  cause  of  this  invasion,  and  there  stood  a  tall  soldier, 
looking  first  at  the  fragments  and  then  at  me,  with  an  expression  of 
grief  on  his  countenance  that  was  undoubted ;  so  I  looked  as  benignant 
as  I  could,  but  this  flower-pot  contained  a  very  rare,  if  not  new  fern, 
I  had  discovered  near  Ocala,  and  all  the  way  from  Florida  I  have 
brought  it  on  my  lap,  with  some  pains  and  trouble,  in  hopes  of 
taking  it,  growing,  across  the  Atlantic ;  but  it  would  probably  have 
perished,  sooner  or  later,  and  perhaps  sudden  death  was  better  than 


PIC-NIC. 


241 


a  lingering  one.  This  exterior  dusting  must  be  necessary  here, 
where  almost  all  the  windows  and  balconies  are  covered  by  iron 
gratings:  they  give  rather  a  prison-like  look  to  the  houses,  but  as 
the  windows  and  entrances  are  each  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  high, 
extending  from  the  roofs  to  the  ground  or  within  three  feet  of  it, 
having  only  lattices  within,  and  no  glass,  so  much  light  is  admitted 
that  there  is  no  gloom.  Any  of  the  houses  in  this  town  might  be 
used  as  fortresses,  they  are  so  strong  and  massive. 

We  had  a  very  pleasant  pic-nic  party  yesterday,  given  by  Mrs. 
Crauford,  in  what  is  called  by  custom  the  Bishop's  Garden— or 
4  Quinta  del  Obispo  '—but  it  belongs  to  the  Conde  de  Penalver  ;  he 
having  built  a  residence  in  Havana,  does  not  make  use  of  his  pretty 
villa.  The  house  is  a  ruin,  and  the  garden  neglected  ;  but  this  last 
circumstance  makes  it  more  interesting  in  a  botanical  point  of  view, 
as  plants  are  to  be  found  there  which,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
would  have  been  destroyed  :  I  found  many  treasures  ;  some  of  them 
valuable  seeds.  Immediately  after  my  return  home,  Mr.  Crauford 
came  to  take  me  to  the  Capitan-Generale's.  His  palace  is  eastern- 
looking,  like  all  the  edifices  here.  Upon  going  into  the  reception- 
room,  I  saw  about  twelve  chairs  on  each  side  opposite  to  one  another 
across  the  room,  a  space  of  three  or  four  yards  between — one  row  for 
gentleman  visitors,  and  the  other  for  ladies.  Madame  de  Concha 
soon  came  in  alone,  dressed  simply  in  morning  costume ;  after  a 
little,  the  Capitan-Generale  followed,  and  I  was  glad  of  his  arrival,  as 
I  could  not  speak  Spanish,  nor  Madame  French,  so  the  Consul  was 
obliged  to  act  as  interpreter  between  us.  The  Capitan-Generale  is  a 
quiet-mannered,  gentlemanly  person ;  he  sat  down  by  me,  and  we 
conversed  for  some  time  in  French,  he  obligingly  promising  the  neces 
sary  permits  for  travelling  here  and  sketching — saying  *  Nous  ne 
sommes  pas  des  tyrans  ici ! '  He  assured  me  of  his  anxiety  for  the 
success  of  England  in  the  present  war,  but  expressed  doubts  of  the 
result ;  and  he  imagines  the  struggle  will  be  a  long  one.  The  Span 
iards  do  not  believe  the  English  understand  fighting,  which  is  odd 
enough  when  the  battles  of  the  Spanish  campaigns  of  Napoleon  must 
be  fresh  in  their  recollection.  While  the  Capitan-Generale  was 


242  THE    COOLIES. 

talking  with  me,  several  gentlemen  entered  and  placed  themselves 
on  the  chairs  opposite,  after  mutual  bows ;  and  when  I  thought  our 
visit  long  enough,  I  made  my  courtesy,  and  we  departed.  Mons. 
and  Madame  de  Concha  were,  for  a  short  time,  in  England — I  believe 
as  exiles.  Madame  is  sister  to  the  Duquesa  de  la  Vittoria.  When 
I  came  back  to  the  Hotel,  Governor  and  Mrs.  Fish  came  to  see  me : 
they  have  just  returned  from  an  expedition  into  the  interior.  I  am 
afraid  I  shall  not  have  completed  my  little  tour  here  in  time  to  em 
bark  with  them  in  the  next  passage  of  the  Black  Warrior,  for  New 
Orleans.  While  I  am  writing,  I  see  two  mulatto  women  with  cups 
in  their  hands,  standing  at  the  great,  wide,  coach-house  looking  door 
opposite;  they  are  sharing  their  breakfast  with  a  negro;  and  now 
two  or  three  more  come  to  gossip  with  them.  This  is  the  way  all  of 
black  race  like  to  eat ;  they  never  willingly  sit  down  to  a  regu 
lar  meal — they  prefer  carrying  their  food  about,  and  taking  it  at  ir 
regular  hours.  Nothing  eatable  is  safe  from  their  depredations,  and 
this  not  from  hunger,  for  they  are  always  plentifully  fed,  but  from 
their  monkey-like  habits.  Mrs.  Almy  tells  me  no  one  unaccustomed 
can  judge  of  the  annoyance  it  is  to  be  served  by  negroes,  and  that 
she  shall  bless  the  day  when  she  is  enabled  to  return,  perhaps  to  Eng 
land,  where  she  will  no  longer  be  tormented  by  slave  labour.  I 
believe  this  to  be  the  general  feeling  of  masters  and  mistresses  in  the 
southern  countries.  For  their  sakes,  I  wish  I  could  have  hopes  that 
rice,  cotton,  and  sugar  may,  some  of  these  days,  be  generally 
cultivated  by  free  labour !  I  firmly  believe  the  boon  will  be  greater 
to  the  whites  than  to  the  blacks  themselves  ;  but  I  fear  blacks  alone 
(in  the  long  run)  can  endure  work  under  a  tropical  sun. 

The  Coolies  are  a  miserable  race  ;  they  perform  less  work,  but 
are  the  slaves  of  slaves — it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  thev  can  lono- 

./  o 

endure.  I  do  not  think  people  in  England  have  any  idea  of  the  idle 
ness  which  characterizes  the  black  people.  Unless  forced  to  exertion 
they  will  lounge  about  for  hours,  aimless  and  unoccupied  ;  yet  they 
rise  with  the  sun.  For  three  hours  this  morning,  since  I  got  up, 
these  women  have  been  lolloping  and  gossiping  in  my  sight,  and 
there  they  will  be  until  they  find  the  heat  too  great  for  this  kind 


VOLANTES.  243 

of  enjoyment.  Whether  they  have  masters  or  mistresses  I  can 
not  tell ;  but  the  house  is  large,  and  apparently  well  furnished ; 
and  yet  these  people  are  idling  there  from  morning  till  night,  unless 
the  sun  drives  them  in  occasionally.  One  hardly  ever  sees  a  bonnet 
worn  here,  and  I  am  beginning  to  do  without,  by  means  of  a  cap 
and  a  black  veil — to  avoid  being  stared  at.  The  first  day  I  thought 
the  omission  impossible,  but  general  custom  soon  reconciles  one  ; 
and  yesterday  I  went  in  an  open  volante,  a  league  into  the  country, 
in  such  a  dress  as  in  England  I  should  only  wear  in  the  evening, 
with  a  black  veil  added. 

The  volantes  are  a  singular  choice  for  the  prevailing  vehicles  in 
such  narrow  streets.  They  are  so  long  and  so  wide  that  it  is  impos 
sible  to  turn  ;  so  one  set  go  down  one  street  and  up  the  next.  Of 
course  if  a  horse  falls,  the  two  wheels  only  are  very  awkward,  but 
they  say  the  poor  beast  generally  lies  still,  and  you  have  time  to  es 
cape.  Sometimes  one  carriage  or  cart  stops  the  way,  and  there  you 
must  sit  in  patience  as  long  as  it  may  please  these  inert  people  to 
dawdle ;  although  the  least  energy  would  make  way,  they  never 
think  it  worth  while  to  be  in  a  hurry. 

Matanzas,  March  14.— At  last  I  am  really  sensible  of  being  in 
a  tropical  climate  !  I  have  slept  in  a  room  with  an  open  window 
(as  large  as  our  house  doors),  on  a  thin  sacking  couch  without 
mattrass,  pillows  as  hard  as  bricks,  only  a  thin  muslin  coverlet,  pro 
tected  by  a  mosquito-net ;  and  after  sleeping  soundly  from  nine 
o'clock  till  three,  I  am  writing  by  candle-light,  stars  shining  outside ; 
the  moon  will  be  in  abeyance  till  we  cross  the  sea  to  New  Orleans, 
having  fully  done  her  duty  during  our  last  voyage.  Last  night  I 
remained  from  sunset  upon  a  kind  of  piazza  at  the  top  of  this  house, 
to  watch  for  the  '  Southern  Cross.'  I  saw  it  rise  rather  to  the  east  of 
south  ;  it  then  seemed  to  leave  gradually  westward,  before  it  sank  in 
the  horizon,  about  in  a  line  with  Orion,  which  was  gloriously  bright 
almost  over  our  heads.  The  Great  Bear  appears  to  me  topsy-turvy, 
and  becomes  quite  a  secondary  constellation  here,  and  the  Cross  is 
only  dimly  seen,  because  we  are  not  far  enough  within  the  Tropics  to 
catch  more  than  a  glimpse  of  it.  The  two  upper  stars  look  fine: 


244  MATANZAS. 

the  two  side  ones  more  distant  from  each  other  than  I  expected;  the 
lowest  faint,  and  not  quite  in  a  straight  line  with  the  upper  ones. 
The  British  Consul,  Mr.  Da  Costa,  was  very  polite  in  coming  imme 
diately  ;  and  he  remained  and  aided  me  to  discover  the  Cross.  The 
master  is  a  Spaniard  of  the  old  country,  who  speaks  French  readily 
and  a  little  English,  besides  Spanish.  Upon  our  first  arrival  there 
was  a  long  parler  carried  on  in  several  languages  by  the  party  from 
Havana,  which  consisted  of  R  -  and  me,  three  American  gentle' 
men,  all  old  acquaintances  of  mine,  one  Englishman  who  crossed 
with  us  in  the  Isabel,  and  who  was  introduced  to  me  by  Mr.  Moly- 
neux,  at  Savannah,  a  Cuban,  and  a  Spaniard.  It  was  difficult  to 
apportion  the  sleeping-rooms  opening  out  upon  an  interior  but  exter 
nal  gallery,  so  that  no  one  might  interfere  with  another,  and  the 
poor  signer  was  almost  in  a  fever  before  that  arrangement  was  com 
plete.  My  little  nest  has  a  fine  view  to  the  west.  I  bribed  an  an 
cient  black  with  one  eye  to  wipe  the  floors  for  me,  and  for  R  -  , 
next  room,  with  fresh  water,  which  cooled  them  considerably  ;  and 
we  are  now  well  lodged,  without  a  creeping  thing  of  any  kind 
among  us. 

This  is  a  very  pretty  town  ;  the  sea  runs  into  a  deep  bay,  filled 
by  ships  of  many  nations,  come  to  be  laden  with  sugar  ;  it  is  a  clean 
er  place  than  Havana,  and  the  blacks  and  mulattos  less  numerous. 
I  did  not  leave  the  house  last  evening,  but  occupied  myself  in  making 
a  sketch  of  the  bay  from  hence.  We  left  Havana  by  the  six  o'clock 
train  the  day  before  yesterday  ;  reached  Guines  by  nine  ;  went  to  see 
a  cave  in  a  chalky  hill  three  miles  from  the  village  —  a  fatiguing 
and  difficult  expedition,  but  I  found  numerous  flowers  known  in  our 
gardens  and  hot-houses  ;  among  them  the  pretty  Asclepias  tuberosa, 
Ipomceas  of  all  colours  and  sizes,  a  lilac  scilla,  a  solamena,  and  other 
things  new  to  me,  and  the  whole  country  was  dotted  over  by  cocoa- 
nut  trees.  That  neighbourhood  has  little  other  foliage,  although  dur 
ing  our  journey  by  rail  I  saw  fine  mango  and  other  trees  —  among 
them  a  palmetto  as  tall  as  the  Charmerops  of  Florida  ;  it  looks  some 
thing  like  the  same  species.  We  passed  many  haciendas,  the  plan 
tations  belonging  to  which  were  in  high  cultivation,  great  herds  of 


MATANZAS.  245 

cattle  and  many  horses  feeding  about  them ;  and  there  were  tall 
chimneys  indicating  steam-engines  for  crushing  sugar. 

On  Sunday  last,  we  went  to  the  service  on  board  the  Vestal, 
commanded  by  Captain  Thompson,  then  in 3 ore  d  in  the  harbour  of 
Havana ;  the  Buzzard  steamer  left  a  day  or  two  before,  and  the  Argus 
will  remain,  while  the  Vestal  is  expected  at  this  place.  It  is  curious  to 
hear  the  watchmen  belonging  to  the  towns  in  Cuba.  They  sing  out 
the  hours  and  the  state  of  the  weather  in  a  stentorian  tone,  always 
preceding  their  announcement  by  a  shrill  and  prolonged  whistle.  I 
observe  that  their  voices  are  tuned  nearly  to  the  same  intervals,  though 
of  course  one  is  rather  more  musical  than  another.  A  thick  fog  ob 
scures  the  view  this  morning — It  was  the  same  yesterday  ;  it  indicates 
that  the  day  will  be  a  hot  one ;  yesterday  the  thermometer  stood  at 
86°,  unusually  high  for  this  month,  but  I  do  not  find  the  heat  so  op 
pressive  as  when  at  80°  in  England. 

Matanzas  is  situated  in  an  almost  circular  basin,  formed  by  low 
hills  of  a  nearly  even  height,  except  when  broken  by  a  chasm  through 
which  flows  the  River  Yamorri — to  the  north-west.  The  houses, 
like  those  of  Havana,  are  almost  all  low,  having  usually  not  more  than 
one,  or  at  most  two  storeys,  some  of  them  with  flat  roofs,  and  others 
heavily  tiled  by  circular  shaped  tiles,  as  if  rows  of  chimney-pots  were 
strung  together,  and  laid  half  a  foot  apart.  In  a  garden  just  below 
my  window  I  see  a  magnificent  Oleander,  and  a  fine  yellow  Bignonia 
(staiis  <?),  in  full  bloom.  I  heard  an  amusing  anecdote  with  reference 
to  botanical  ignorance ;  as  a  lady  had  heard  the  name  of  Hedysa- 
rum  gyrans,  next  day  she  gravely  informed  a  gentleman,  'that  plant 
is  the  harum  scarum  gatherum.'  So  little  attention  is  paid  to  natural 
history  here  that  I  can  get  no  assistance  as  to  the  botanical  names  of 
either  trees,  flowers,  or  shrubs,  and  as  many  of  the  former  are  yet 
without  bloom,  it  is  difficult  to  make  them  out  even  with  the  assist 
ance  of  London ;  it  is  the  same  with  out-of-the-way  fruits — one  is  a 
pappy  and  another  is  a  mammy,  and  so  on  ;  but  the  local  terms  do 
not  help  one  the  least. 

Mr.  Da  Costa,  the  Consul,  was  so  obliging  as  to  take  us  an  inter 
esting  drive  last  evening  up  heights  to  the  north-east,  from  whence 

y  V#*vi   /A*.  -  >*,>;.  *.       .-.-.    f..  --^ 


046  COCOA-NUTS. 

I  was  able  to  sketch  the  Pau  of  Matanza,  and  a  fine  valley  beneath, 
dotted  in  all  directions  with  cocoa-nut  trees,  but  I  observed  few  trees 
of  any  other  kind.  By  a  road  impracticable  for  any  other  vehicle 
than 'a  volante,  with  its  giant  wheels,  we  reached  a  villa  and  planta 
tion  belonging  to  one  of  the  proprietors  here.  The  foliage  all  round 
appeared  so  strange  ;  Tree  Euphorbias,  Shrubby  Cactus,  immense 
Cannas,  and  thickets  of  Coffee,  Bananas,  &c.  For  the  first  time  I 
saw  cocoa-nuts  ;  some  were  gathered,  and  I  drank  some  of  the  juice 
which  looked  like  clear  water,  and  tasted  nearly  the  same,  with  a 
slight  soupgon  of  sugar.  I  was  quite  surprised  to  see  a  green  nut 
(placed  with  a  hole  in  it  over  a  tumbler)  pouring  forth  such  a  bright, 
innocent-looking  liquid.  I  supposed  it  would  always  have  a  milky 
hue.  The  nuts  enlarge  by  degrees  ;  but  it  was  a  long  time  before  I 
could  find  out  which  of  the  palms  was  the  true  cocoa-nut  tree. 
Some  said  this  was,  and  others  doubted,  and  said  it  was  a  tree  resem 
bling  the  one  that  produces  the  nut,  whereas,  there  is  only  that  single 
cocoa  that  I  have  yet  seen  here.  There  are  tall  Arecas  and  Palmettos, 
which  are  probably  the  same  as  those  of  Florida ;  and  there  is  the 
Date  (Phoenix),  and  the  Sago  Palm,  and  Bactris,  but  two  kinds  of 
cocoas  I  have  not  yet  seen  here.  At  this  plantation  of  Mr  Jinks's  I 
for  the  first  time  saw  sugar  crushing.  It  was,  in  this  instance,  not 
done  by  steam,  but  by  horses  and  mules,  negro  boys  sitting  as  pos 
tillions,  laughing  and  shouting,  and  the  whole  affair  having  such  a 
wild,  unearthly  look,  though  it  seemed  a  case  of  enjoyment  to  all 
except  the  poor  beasts  concerned  in  this  kind  of  merry-go-round,  that 
I  could  fancy  the  employment  might  have  been  selected  by  Dante 
for  one  of  the  punishments  of  his  Inferno.  The  driver,  who  received 
us  and  showed  us  every  hospitality,  was  a  handsome,  good-humoured, 
intelligent-looking  Cuban  Creole.  At  Guines,  where  I  saw  a  large 
plantation,  all  the  sugar  was  distilling  for  rum,  a  spirit  which  bears 
a  high  price  at  this  moment,  and  is  therefore  more  profitable  than 
sugar.  Coolies  were  employed  there  as  well  as  negroes,  but  they  do 
not  seem  equally  fitted  for  labour,  and  are  more  to  be  pitied  than  the 
negro  slaves,  for  their  masters  are  indifferent  about  their  comfort. 
The  sun  set  as  a  more  magnificent  globe  of  fire  than  I  had  ever  before 


YAMOKUJ.  247 

seen  it.  There  was  just  enough  twilight  when  we  left  the  plantation 
for  me  to  watch  that  we  went  safely  down  a  long  and  steep  white 
chalky  descent  into  the  valley  below  ;  and  I  regretted  that  afterwards 
I  could  see  nothing  of  the  beauties  of  our  drive,  excepting  fire-flies, 
which  sparkled  among  the  aloes,  and  yuccas,  and  coffee  bushes,  as 
we  proceeded  along  a  track,  which,  if  the  Consul  and  the  other 
gentleman  on  horseback  had  not  assured  me  was  free  from  danger, 
I  should  have  thought  could  hardly  have  been  safely  traversed ;  but 
with  the  exception  of  every  now  and  then  sinking  in  ruts,  and  pass 
ing  over  rocks,  large  enough  to  have  overset  an  English  vehicle,  we 
had  no  difficulties,  and  the  negro  postillion  and  his  two  little  white 
horses,  appeared  quite  at  their  ease.  We  passed  by  two  haciendas, 
in  our  road  to  the  pass  through  which  the  Yamorri  River  makes  its 
way  to  the  town,  and  into  the  sea  beyond.  The  name 'Yamorri' 
is  by  tradition  derived  from  the  dying  exclamation  of  a  native  war 
rior  who  fell  into  the  stream.  It  does  not  seem  very  deep.  Another 
river  flows  along  the  opposite  side  of  this  place,  and  there  is  also  the 
Cardinas  a  short  distance  down  the  coast  to  the  south,  but  I  believe 
none  of  them  are  navigable.  I  have  lost  time  here  in  looking  about, 
owing  to  the  early  mornings  having  been  thick  and  foggy  ever  since  we 
came,  an  unusual  circumstance.  It  is  too  hot  to  stir  in  the  middle 
of  the  day,  and  the  evenings  are  very  short,  so  that  I  shall  accomplish 
less  here  in  four  days  than  I  should  do  in  two  elsewhere. 

Matanzas,  March  16. — I  saw  some  nice  plants  in  small  gardens 
yesterday.  The  Copaiba  is  a  very  pretty  tree,  and  I  hope  to  get  a 
bulb  of  a  gigantic  lily,  some  Cririum  or  Amaryllis,  which  they  tell 
me  has  a  purple  and  white  flower.  A  Ceanothus-looking  shrub  has 
here  the  name  of  tree  mignonette  from  its  fragrance.  I  went  in  a 
volante  to  draw  from  the  Yamorri  Pass.  There  are  caves  in  the 
cretaceous  rocks  above,  one  of  which  is  so  extensive  that  it  is  believed 
to  pass  under  the.  whole  of  the  town  of  Matanzas.  Looking  up  from 
below,  I  saw  some  stalactitic  pillars  supporting  rocks  above.  I 
sketched  one  of  them.  In  some  places  here  the  rocks  look  as  if  they 
had  all  been  submitted  to  the  action  of  fire,  and  this  more  completely 
than  in  Florida ;  for  in  these  I  see  no  organic  remains.  I  think  they 


248  ARRANGEMENTS. 

must  all  have  been  burnt  up,  while  at  Ocala  they  seem  only  to  have 
been  warmed  up.  I  suppose  Cuba  to  be  older  land  than  the  most 
southern  part  of  the  United  States,  although  from  Havana  to  Ma- 
tanzas,  I  see  only  cretaceous  formations — but  coal  is  found  not  very 
distant  from  Havana,  and  the  hundreds  of  miles  farther  south  allow 
space  enough  for  anything.  This  morning  I  am  going  to  a  planta 
tion  a  few  miles  down  the  coast,  south;  to-morrow  we  return  to 
Havana,  and  I  shall  have  one  more  week  there  before  crossing  over 
to  New  Orleans. 

Your  affectionate 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  XXI. 


MATANZAS,  CUBA,  | 
March  17, 1855.      f 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  hope  the  letter  which  I  sent  off  yesterday  will  leave  Ha 
vana  by  this  day's  mail ;  it  is  impossible  to  be  certain  that  all  I 
write  reaches  you,  but  I  generally  send  packets  by  the  best  oppor 
tunities.  I  have  not  always  time  to  read  over  my  communications, 
and  never  to  copy  them,  so  I  shall  be  sorry  if  any  are  lost,  as  they 
will  be  such  a  refreshment  to  my  memory  at  home.  After  closing 
my  letters  yesterday  morning,  I  set  off  in  a  volante  very  early,  and 

had  a  beautiful  drive  by  the  sea  shore  to  a  plantation  called , 

the  residence  of  Monsieur .     The  finest  view  I  have  yet  seen 

of  Matanzas  is  from  a  point  about  a  mile  out  of  the  town,  along 

the  southern  coast.     Mr.  J was  so  obliging  as  to  accompany 

me  part  of  the  way  on  horseback ;  and  as  I  soon  got  out  of  the 
carriage  to  gather  flowers  and  pick  up  shells,  I  was  quickly  attracted 
by  the  nature  of  the  rocks,  which  here  border  a  sandy  beach  : 
there  were  fossil  corals,  and  organisms  in  great  variety,  close  to  the 
sea.  On  a  hill  beyond,  I  found  innumerable  shells ;  bullas  nearly 
as  perfect  as  the  recent  ones  on  the  shore  below ;  then  evident 
marks  of  volcanic  action  ;  then  chalk  resembling  that  at  Ocala,  with 
occasional  fossil  remains ;  higher  up  still,  but  not  distant  more  than 
a  few  hundred  yards,  I  saw  a  coarse  kind  of  white  freestone,  which 
12 


248  ARRANGEMENTS. 

must  all  have  been  burnt  up,  while  at  Ocala  they  seem  only  to  have 
been  warmed  up.  I  suppose  Cuba  to  be  older  land  than  the  most 
southern  part  of  the  United  States,  although  from  Havana  to  Ma- 
tanzas,  I  see  only  cretaceous  formations — but  coal  is  found  not  very 
distant  from  Havana,  and  the  hundreds  of  miles  farther  south  allow 
space  enough  for  anything.  This  morning  I  am  going  to  a  planta 
tion  a  few  miles  down  the  coast,  south;  to-morrow  we  return  to 
Havana,  and  I  shall  have  one  more  week  there  before  crossing  over 
to  New  Orleans. 

Your  affectionate 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  XXL 


MATANZAS,  CtrnA,  ) 
March  17, 1855.     f 

MY  DEAR,  FRIENDS, — 

I  hope  the  letter  which  I  sent  off  yesterday  will  leave  Ha 
vana  by  this  day's  mail ;  it  is  impossible  to  be  certain  that  all  I 
write  reaches  yon,  but  I  generally  send  packets  by  the  best  oppor 
tunities.  I  have  not  always  time  to  read  over  my  communications, 
and  never  to  copy  them,  so  I  shall  be  sorry  if  any  are  lost,  as  they 
will  be  such  a  refreshment  to  my  memory  at  home.  After  closing 
my  letters  yesterday  morning,  I  set  off  in  a  volante  very  early,  and 

had  a  beautiful  drive  by  the  sea  shore  to  a  plantation  called , 

the  residence  of  Monsieur .     The  finest  view  I  have  yet  seen 

of  Matanzas  is  from  a  point  about  a  mile  out  of  the  town,  along 

the  southern  coast.     Mr.  J was  so  obliging  as  to  accompany 

me  part  of  the  way  on  horseback ;  and  as  I  soon  got  out  of  the 
carriage  to  gather  flowers  and  pick  up  shells,  I  was  quickly  attracted 
by  the  nature  of  the  rocks,  which  here  border  a  sandy  beach  : 
there  were  fossil  corals,  and  organisms  in  great  variety,  close  to  the 
sea.  On  a  hill  beyond,  I  found  innumerable  shells ;  bullas  nearly 
as  perfect  as  the  recent  ones  on  the  shore  below ;  then  evident 
marks  of  volcanic  action  ;  then  chalk  resembling  that  at  Ocala,  with 
occasional  fossil  remains ;  higher  up  still,  but  not  distant  more  than 
a  few  hundred  yards,  I  saw  a  coarse  kind  of  white  freestone,  which 
12 


252  RETURN    TO    HAVANA. 

of  this  day  at  once  to  England,  for  it  alone  will  fill  a  box,  with 
shells,  fossils,  plants,  and  seeds.  I  found  some  difficulty  in  tearing 
myself  away  from  such  an  interesting  locality,  where  I  have  not 
seen  half  I  should  like  to  see.  Not  very  far  from  the  pass  of  the 
Yamorri,  I  understand  there  is  still  an  Indian  sacrificial  altar.  None 
of  the  aboriginal  race  are  now  left  on  the  island  :  they  have  faded 
away  before  the  more  intelligent  white  men,  and  perhaps  it  may  be, 
in  the  course  of  Providence,  that  Anglo-Saxon  energy  is  one  of  these 
days  to  supersede  Creole  inertness  and  Spanish  cruelty. 

March  17. — I  went  by  railroad  back  to  Havana,  and  this  time  I 
tried  to  settle  the  controversy  which  has  been  waging  in  my  mind 
between  the  two  palms  most  common  here.  It  is  evident  that  the 
real  cocoa-nut  has  a  less  smooth  bark  and  a  more  plumose,  falling 
foliage  than  that  tree  with  the  smooth  white  stem  and  stiffer  leaves, 
most  common  all  about  the  country ;  the  latter  bears  a  smaller  nut, 
with  which  pigs  are  fed,  instead  of  the  true  cocoa-nut ;  and  a  gentle 
man  I  met  last  night  says  the  former  is  called  here  the  Royal  Palm> 
and  that  it  is  not  a  cocoa  at  all.  I  shall  find  out  its  botanical  desig 
nation  at  last.  I  suspect  it  is  what  I  first  supposed,  an  Areca 
(Betel-nut). 

There  is  much  of  the  red  iron-sand  all  the  way  to  Havana.  We 
arrived  in  time  for  dinner,  but  in  such  a  ferruginous  state  that  it  re- 
required  considerable  patience  to  wash  ourselves  clean.  Before  sun 
set  I  took  advantage  of  the  pass  I  have  received  for  drawing,  and 

Mr.  P took  me  up  to  the  Fort  El  Principe,  from  which  there 

is  a  view  over  Havana.  Upon  showing  the  order,  signed  by  the 
Capitan-Generale,  and  assuring  the  Commandant  that  I  only  wished 
to  sketch  *  la  perspcctiva]  and  not  the  fortifications,  we  were  permit 
ted  to  enter. 

Sunday,  March  18. — We  went  to  the  service  on  board  the 
Argus  steamer,  commanded  by  Captain  Purvis.  The  English  and 
Austrian  Consuls,  with  Mrs.  Crauford  and  Mrs.  Scharkenberg,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Backhouse,  &c.  &c.,  were  also  on  board ;  and  the  captain 
provided  us  with  a  plentiful  lunch.  The  sailors  sang  the  Hundredth 
Psalm  ;  and  they  also  chanted  part  of  the  service,  guided  by  an  har- 


ABOLITIONIST    NOTIONS.  253 

monicon.     We  visited  the  engine-room  and  machinery,  store-closet, 
&c.,  &c.,  which  were  beautifully  kept.     The  Vestal  is  gone  upon  a 
cruise.     I  have  been  told  a  dreadful  fact,  confirmatory  of  the  blood 
and  murder  which  are  caused  by  our  unfortunate  perseverance  in 
keeping  an  Anti-Slavery  squadron  on  the  coast  of  Africa.     One  o* 
our  captains  having  been  capsized  in  his  gig,  within  the  bar  of  a 
river,  his  only  hope  of  safety  was  to  swim  to  shore,  near  a  barracouta, 
where  he  expected  to  lose  his  life  in  another  manner.     The  people 
belonging  to  it,  however,   succoured  him,  and  received  him  with 
kindness  ;  but,  before  returning  to  his  ship,  the  slave- merchant  re 
quested  his  company  to  a  distant  building.      Upon  opening  the 
door  he  was  struck  with  horror  at  the  sight  of  five  hundred  blacks 
with  their  throats  cut.     '  Do  not  look  reproachfully  at  we,'  exclaimed 
the  man ;  '  this  is  your  doing,  not  mine.     I  would  willingly  have 
avoided  such  a  massacre,  but  you  prevented  me  from  getting  the 
slaves  off.     I  could  neither  feed  nor  provide  for  them;  and  self- 
preservation  obliged  us  to  dispose  of  them  as  you  see.'     The  Consul 
here,  and  Mr.  Backhouse,  son  of  Mr.  Backhouse,  formerly  of  the 
Foreign  Office,  are  the  only  people  I  have  met  with  among  either  diplo 
matists  or  clergy,  who  support  Abolitionist  notions.     Mr,  Backhouse 
n formed  me  that  the  reason  it  is  unnecessary  to  fasten  doors  and 
windows  on  the  plantations  is,,  that  the  negroes  are  all  safely  locked 
in  their  respective  dwellings  at  night.     Now,  I  have  ascertained  that 
this  is  not  so,  though  of  course  Mr.  Backhouse  believed  it ;  and 
moreover,  it  would  be  absurd ;  because  any  one  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  nature  of  negro  houses  must  be  aware  they  are  so  slight  that 
the  inhabitants  can  get  out  anywhere ;  and  that,  therefore,  it  would 
be  useless  to  make  a  show  of  locking  doors.     In  the  cities  the  laws 
do  not  permit  slaves  to  be  out  after  nine  o'clock  at  night  without  a 
permit;  but  even  this  regulation  is  not  always  enforced.     In  the 
evening  I  went  to  the  Cortuna  Valdez,  a  shady  walk  by  the  side  of 
the  harbour,  and  took  a  sketch  from  thence. 

Havana,  March  20. — Yesterday  the  heat  was  so  intense  I  did 

not  go  out  till  late.     This  morning  Mr.  P accompanied  me  in 

the  barge  of  the  Argos  to  visit  the  Cabanos,  a  very  strong  fortress, 


254  THE    CABANOS. 

behind  the  Moro.  It  was  once  taken  by  Lord  Albemarle,  and 
England  had  possession  of  Havana  for  two  years.  At  that  time  the 
English  soldiers  made  use  of  one  of  the  churches  for  Protestant  ser- 

o 

vice,  which  so  desecrated  it  in  the  eyes  of  the  bigoted  Spaniards, 
that  it  has  never  been  applied  to  sacred  purposes  from  that  time  to 
this.  In  mounting  towards  the  fortress,  I  found  many  interesting 
plants — some  of  them  new  to  me.  One  of  the  pretty  blue  Commelinas 
usual  in  our  gardens  is  here  indigenous  ;  Ipomceas,  and  Melias,  and 
Bignonias,  intermixed  with  Cactuses,  are  all  over  the  banks,  and 
fruits  of  different  kinds  grow  within  the  walls.  The  Governor  (who 
must,  I  suppose,  be  a  Spanish  General)  was  very  gentlemanly  and 
polite ;  much  more  so  than  the  Commandant  of  El  Principe,  who 
consented  to  our  admission  with  reluctance,  I  imagined,  as  if  some 
degree  of  suspicion  crossed  his  mind  :  and  one  cannot  wonder  that  in 
these  filibustering  times  everything  here  is  carefully  guarded.  This 
fortress  (the  Cabanos)  is  of  immense  extent,  much  larger  than  the 
Citadel  of  Quatre ;  and  at  present  it  is  occupied  by  a  large  body  of 
troops.  It  took  us  so  long  to  go  over  it  that  I  put  off  visiting  the 
Moro  till  to-morrow. 

After  dinner  Mr.  P— —  took  me  a  drive  round  the  suburbs  of 
Havana;  two  other  American  gentlemen,  acquaintances  from  Balti-"* 
more,  accompanied  us  in  another  volante ;  these  carriages  had  two 
horses  each,  one  ridden  by  a  black  postilion  (with  his  tall  jack-boots, 
and  embroidered  swallow-tailed,  short-waisted  jacket),  cantered  in 
the  old  French  fashion  by  the  side,  but  a  few  paces  before  the 
horse  in  the  shafts.  Our  boy  was  a  true  negro  of  the  ourang-outang 
class,  with  a  projecting  muzzle,  and  falling-away  chin ;  he  was  so 
surly  and  obstinate  that  at  last  Mr.  P — —  got  out  and  borrowed  a 
cane  from  the  other  vehicle.  We  observed  intelligent  glances  passing 
between  the  two  drivers,  and  ours  immediately  improved  in  civility ; 
the  hint  was  sufficient,  but  no  verbal  argument  would  have  had  the 
smallest  effect.  We  passed  by  the  fortress  called  the  Altares,  on  the 
hill  below  which  fifty  Filibustered,  who  were  taken  prisoners  from 
boats  in  an  attempted  invasion  of  the  Island  two  or  three  years  ago, 
were  shot.  The  execution  of  ten  out  of  the  number  would  have  been 


TURPITUDE    OF    THE   BLACKS.  255 

less  cruel,  and  probably  better  policy ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  deny 
the  right  of  the  Cuban  government  to  execute  foreigners  landing  on 
their  territory  for  hostile  purposes ;  at  this  moment  there  are  political 
prisoners  under  condemnation,  whose  death  may  be  justifiable, 
Estampes,  &c. 

We  returned  to  the  city  by  a  ferry  across  the  harbour,  and  in 
the  evening  I  attended  a  reception  at  the  palace.  The  Capitan- 
Generale  does  not  appear  to  be  more  than  forty-five;  his  manner 
has  a  tinge  of  melancholy,  and  his  position  however  distinguished 
must  be  in  many  respects  arduous  and  painful.  How  far  he  is 
obliged  to  act  harshly  it  is  difficult  to  judge.  He  introduced  me  to 
General,  or  rather  Admiral,  Castanos,  who  commands  in  the  port, 
and  who  speaks  English  with  a  good  pronunciation,  although  he  in 
formed  me  it  was  chiefly  acquired  from  books. 

After  my  return  home,  the  American  commander  of  the  Princeton 
steamer  came  in.  He  mentioned  having  lately  visited  Jamaica,  after 
an  interval  of  ten  years  since  he  was  there  before,  and  that  he  was 
both  surprised  and  shocked  at  the  rapid  deterioration  of  the  island. 
He  says  the  blacks  are  fast  sinking  into  a  state  of  gross  vice  and 
immorality ;  and  even  when  they  agree  to  work  upon  the  planta 
tions,  they  steal  half  of  the  crops  to  be  gathered  in,  and  sell  it  in  the 
most  barefaced  way.  Ladies  cannot  venture  out  without  danger  of 
insult ;  and  he  considers  our  West  Indian  Islands  are  on  the  road  to 
ultimate  ruin.  This  is  the  opinion  of  every  observer  I  have  met  with 
lately  who  has  been  among  them — people  of  different  professions  and 
of  various  shades  of  politics— but  all  in  agreement  upon  that  one 
point,  and  a  sad  and  dreary  agreement  it  is ! 

Yesterdayj  the  boat  of  the  Argus,  commanded  by  Mr.  Elton, 

took  Mr.  P and  me  to  the  Moro.     Upon  landing  beneath  it,  I 

found  the  beach  strewed  with  various  specimens  of  corallines,  some 
of  them  so  perfect  they  look  as  if  fresh.  The  situation  of  this  for 
tress  is  fine,  though  commanded  by  that  we  visited  yesterday.  I 
saw  the  windows  of  dungeons,  where  it  gave  me  a  pang  to  know 
political  prisoners  are  confined ;  and  there  is  a  general  opinion  that 
an  execution  will  take  place  to-morrow,  perhaps  that  of  Pinto. 


258  POPULAR   SPORTS. 

People  well  informed  believe  there  is  no  credible  evidence  against 
Ramon  Pinto ;  but  he  is  a  man  of  talent  as  well  as  character,  and 
the  Castilian  party  are  exasperated  against  him,  so  that  there  is 
reason  to  believe  the  Capitan-Generale  will  not  refuse  a  confirmation 
of  the  sentence  of  death ;  but  with  three  of  our  men-of-war  here, 
besides  Americans,  and  considering  the  protection  we  have  afforded 
to  the  government,  could  not  our  Consul-General  object  to  such  a 
tragedy  being  performed  ?  Surely  it  is  sufficient  to  confiscate  his 
estates,  and  sentence  that  noble  though  unfortunate  man  to  banish 
ment,  instead  of  garotting  him  ? 

I  believe  fifty  of  the  subordinate  offenders  are  to  be  transported 
to  the  Manillas.  It  is  sufficient  to  live  for  one  fortnight  under  the 
rule  of  a  despotism  to  be  made  sensible  of  the  blessing  of  constitu 
tional  government.  Here  all  is  doubt  and  suspicion.  This  unhappy 
Pinto  has  a  wife  and  seven  or  eight  children,  and  he  is  said  to  be 
clever,  brave,  and  well-intentioned:  perhaps  right  in  principle, 
though  mistaken  in  the  choice  of  means  and  the  selection  of  time ; 
but  I  am  assured  that  against  him  there  is  no  accusation  as  to  rebel 
lion,  but  one  of  intended  assassination  of  Concha,  which  is  incredible. 

Upon  entering  the  cutter  again,  we  rowed  a  short  distance  out, 
for  me  to  make  a  short  sketch  of  the  Moro  from  the  sea,  and  I  re 
turned  to  the  Caltc/i  Hotel  by  ten  o'clock.  After  dinner,  Mr.  P 

and  I  took  a  long  drive  round  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  and  it  was 
dark  before  we  returned.  We  passed  through  Guanobacova — a 
place  famous  for  cock-fighting.  There,  I  am  told,  hardly  a  house  is 
without  its  fighting  cocks.  After  our  return,  I  went  to  take  leave 
at  the  Palace,  where  my  reception  has  been  always  obliging  and 
polite. 

Areca  oleacea  is  the  palm  which  has  given  me  so  much  trouble 
here.  At  last  I  have  made  up  my  mind  it  is  no  cocoa.  This  was 
my  first  idea ;  but  the  difference  of  opinion  and  the  total  ignorance 
about  vegetation  here  led  me  to  doubt  my  own  correctness.  Only 
yesterday,  Monsieur  Sauralle,  a  gentleman  who  has  paid  some  atten 
tion  to  trees,  assured  me  this  palm,  which  he  designated  Oresdom 
Regia,  was  not  to  be  found  in  London ;  yet  it  is  there  as  Areca.  I 


SNAKE    MILKER.  257 

have  bad  this  morning  my  first  introduction  to  a  scorpion.  I  saw 
something  in  a  little  basket,  standing  close  to  the  dressing-table, 
which  I  mistook  for  a  fossil.  I  touched  it  with  an  exclamation,  when 
a  maid  (fortunately  not  black)  saw  what  it  was,  caught  up  the  bas 
ket,  and  carried  it  at  once  to  a  man  a  few  yards  from  my  door,  who 
killed  the  creature  instantly.  A  negro  woman  would  have  laughed 
and  stared,  and  have  allowed  it  to  sting  me,  before  she  would  have 
remembered  that  a  scorpion  is  an  ugly  customer.  This  is  the  first 
venomous  thing  I  have  met  with  in  America,  and  it  is  the  only  one 
dangerous  in  Cuba ;  not  so  bad  either,  I  am  assured,  as  the  same 
creature  in  other  localities,  for  its  bite  seldom  proves  mortal  here. 
There  are  some  snakes  to  be  found  in  the  island,  but  none  venomous. 
By-the-bye,  yesterday  a  lady  from  Louisiana  told  me  that  a  snake 
there  (she  could  not  say  if  it  was  a  rattlesnake)  milks  the  cows,  and 
that  it  has  the  power  of  charming  a  cow  once  milked,  back  to  the 
same  spot,  where  she  will  call  the  reptile  as  if  it  was  her  calf.  A 
red  appearance  in  the  milk  left  behind  -shows  what  has  occurred ; 
but  there  is  no  danger  to  the  life  of  the  cow,  and  by  being  carefully 
shut  up  away  from  her  snake  milker,  the  mischief  is  repaired. 

Havana,  March  23. — No  Crescent  City  has  come  in  to-day, 
though  the  Isabel,  from  Charleston,  the  Philadelphia,  from  New 
York,  and  the  Diver,  British  steamer,  have  all  arrived ;  we  shall 
therefore  be  detained  over  to-night.  There  is  a  whisper  that  another 
political  sufferer  will  be  brought  to  the  scaffold  immediately.  I  have 
not  heard  particulars  of  that  case ;  but  every  fact  which  can  be  dis 
covered  confirms  me  in  the  suspicion  that  the  death  of  Pinto  was  a 
murder — not  an  act  of  political  justice.  His  last  communication  to 
a  friend  was  his  assurance,  as  a  man  of  honour,  that  he  died  guiltless 
of  those  things  for  which  his  judges  had  condemned  him.  Five 
thousand  people  attended  Pinto's  execution ;  solemnly  and  appar 
ently  mournfully,  they  witnessed  his  firm  and  calm  submission  to  the 
garotte,  after  having  been  refused  the  death  of  a  soldier.  This  act 
must  bring  misery  upon  the  heads  of  those  who  have  caused  it. 

I  am  told  the  British  Consul  had  not  sufficient  diplomatic  rank 
to  warrant  a  protest  from  him.     So  while  England  is  carrying  on  ^ 
12* 


258  POSITION    OF    ENGLAND. 

crusade  against  the  interests  of  the  sugar  planters,  and  which  really 
injures  and  deteriorates  the  black  race,  it  is  abetting  murder  and 
tyranny  over  the  whites ;  and  because  this  island  bears  the  name  of 
a  colony  (although  of  much  more  importance  than  Mexico),  English 
men  have  been  imprisoned  and  ruined  without  redress ;  and  if  a 
British  subject  dies  here,  there  is  no  minister  capable  of  protecting 
his  property,  or  of  saving  his  widow  and  family  from  an  arbitrary 
interference  with  their  rights.  We  have  only  power  to  do  mischief, 
without  making  our  influence  felt  for  the  advantage  of  our  own  peo 
ple.  This  Government  is,  in  fact,  a  Viceroy  ship.  Havana  (particu 
larly  at  this  moment)  is  a  situation  of  great  importance,  and  yet  the 
British  Government  have  no  strong  and  powerful  representative. 
Here  I  feel  so  mortified  at  the  poor  figure  England  makes,  that  I 
quite  long  to  get  away  from  the  place.  I  am  packing  up  a  box  of 
fossils  and  recent  corallines  collected  on  these  shores  for  the  London 
Museum  of  Practical  Geology ;  except  by  the  weight  of  the  former, 
they  are  in  such  a  perfect  condition,  that  they  would  hardly  be  dis 
tinguished  from  fresh  specimens.  I  cannot  gain  information  where 
the  older  formations  commence,  but  there  is  good  coal  on  the  island. 
I  have  picked  up  serpentine  upon  its  shores,  and  I  am  told  that  there 
is  granite  somewhere  towards  the  south.  I  have  not  seen  more  than 
sixty  miles  out  of  the  seven  hundred,  to  which  length  Cuba  extends. 

Military  uniforms  are  visible  in  every  direction,  and  fortresses 
bristle  all  round  this  city,  yet  there  is  no  such  thing  as  public  confi 
dence,  or  a  sense  of  general  security.  Poor  Cuba !  from  the  little  I 
have  seen,  I  can  hardly  hope  that  the  future  will  be  free  from  blood 
shed.  No  simple  arrangement  of  sale  and  payment  will  settle  her 
destinies,  or  give  her  prosperity.  If  individuals  in  this  state  of  ex 
istence  have  to  pass  through  a  discipline  of  trial,  so  it  appears  that 
nations  must  gain  freedom  through  suffering. 

The  day  before  yesterday  was  stormy,  with  thunder  and  light 
ning,  fit  accompaniments  for  that  morning's  work ;  so  I  was  fortu 
nate  in  not  embarking  upon  a  troubled  sea,  which  may  be  less 
rough  for  our  passage  if  we  are  to  go  on  board  this  afternoon. 

Orescent    City,  March   25. — By  half-past  ten  o'clock  yesterday 


SPANISH    MISRULE.  259 

morning  we  got  on  board,  being  obliged  to  come  two  miles  across 
the  harbour  in  an  open  boat,  because  there  is  a  regulation  obliging 
the  American  steamers  to  coal  at  an  inconvenient  place ;  and  though 
this  vessel  would  have  been  able  to  come  in  last  night,  because  she 
arrived  after  sunset  the  authorities  obliged  her  to  wait  at  the  entrance 
till  after  the  sun  rose  again,  on  pain  of  being  fired  at.  Once,  a  cap 
tain,  being  ordered  to  moor  himself  alongside  of  a  convict  ship,  re 
fused  to  take  that  situation,  and  put  out  again  to  sea  till  the  morning. 
The  present  Government  of  Cuba  is  permitting  acts  which  tend 
to  excite  indignation  and  pugnacity  in  the  United  States.  It  is  re 
ported  that  some  authorities  have  insulted  and  seized  upon  a  Consul, 
and  that  a  Spanish  man-of-war  has  fired  into  an  American  ship,  and 
that  the  Capitan-Generale  has  neither  offered  redress  nor  apology. 
Havana  is  a  tempting  prize,  and  the  Spanish  Government  affording 
a  fair  pretext,  who  can  wonder  that  there  are  filibustering  expedi 
tions  ?  Passing  out  of  the  harbour,  a  gentleman  pointed  out  the 
spot  where  Ramon  Pinto  was  executed.  He  described  the  scene  as 
follows : — No  very  apparent  show  of  military  force,  but  the  scaffold 
was  erected  in  an  open  place  between  a  large  barrack  and  the  small 
fort  opposite  the  Cabanos,  from  whence  troops  could  have  been  drawn 
if  necessary.  We  concluded  the  prisoner  must  have  been  moved 
from  his  dungeon  in  the  night,  or  early  in  the  morning.  When  all 
was  prepared,  he  was  brought  out  from  the  barracks,  dressed  in 
white,  with  a  black  cross  upon  his  cap ;  his  companions,  only  the 
executioner  and  one  priest ;  a  band  playing  the  Dead  March.  He 
had  only  to  walk  about  two  hundred  yards ;  he  simply  declared  his 
innocence  of  the  crimes  attributed  to  him,  and  then  after  seating 
himself  in  the  chair  of  death,  he  gave  the  signal ;  the  garotte  was 
applied,  and,  without  any  apparent  struggle,  life  soon  became  ex 
tinct  :  for  a  while,  I  know  not  how  long,  the  body  was  left  to  be 
gazed  at;  that  sight  perhaps  made  five  hundred  Pintos  where  there 
was  one  before,  and  raised  a  detestation  of  General  Concha  and  his 
myrmidons  which  will  probably  cause  the  extinction  of  the  Spanish 
rule  in  America,  and  bring  down  retribution  upon  the  chief  who  now 
exercises  it.  Perhaps  I  have  dwelt  too  long  upon  this  terrible  pc- 


260  MRS.    STOWE. 

currenco ;  and  writing  as  I  have  done  at  odd  moments  it  is  possible 
I  may  have  repeated  facts,  but  there  has  been  no  time  to  read  back ; 
you  have  the  feelings  and  the  impressions  as  they  arose,  and  at  such 
a  moment  it  has  been  impossible  to  write  coolly  or  free  from  painful 
excitement.  Thank  God,  I  have  now  left  that  bloody  shore. 

We  have  a  large  vessel  and  fine  calm  weather ;  our  captain  says 
it  will  take  three  days  to  reach  the  bar  of  the  Mississippi  River ;  I 
fear  we  shall  enter  it  in  the  dark.  The  only  peculiarity  I  have  ob 
served  in  this  part  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  during  our  present  voyage 
is  the  colour  of  the  sea,  which  is  unlike  anything  I  have  remarked 
elsewhere:  it  is  neither  green,  nor  sky-blue,  but  precisely  the  tint  of 
a  sapphire — which  the  captain  tells  me  is  its  usual  appearance ;  this 
colour  does  not  seem  to  be  affected  by  either  clouds  or  sky,  for 
though  we  have  had  a  calm  voyage  so  far,  it  has  by  no  means  been 
cloudless,  and  I  write  on  the  third  day  of  our  passage  to  New  Or 
leans  at  a  distance  of  six  hundred  miles  from  Cuba.  On  board,  I 
have  been  reading  Mrs.  Stowe's  Sunny  Memories :  it  contains  some 
pretty  and  true  descriptions  of  scenes  and  facts  in  Scotland  and  Eng 
land,  and  yet  I  cannot  but  regret  that  she  did  not  meditate  more 
deeply  upon  her  own  axiom,  that — '  The  power  of  fictitious  writing, 
for  good  as  well  as  evil,  is  a  thing  which  ought  to  be  most  seriously 
reflected  on,' — and  not  ignorantly  used.  Had  Mrs.  Stowe  lived  for 
some  months  among  the  institutions  and  the  people  which,  in  Uncle 
Tom,  she  thoughtlessly,  perhaps  not  intentionally  vilified,  she  would 
have  used,  not  misused  her  undoubted  talents ;  and  as  it  is,  she  ought 
to  have  blushed  at  the  fulsome  flattery  which  called  her  novel  '  The 
genuine  application  of  the  sacred  Word  of  God  to  the  several  branches 
of  her  subject: — Dr.  M'Neile's  Address,  April  llth,  1853. 

I  did  not  say  much  about  the  aspect  of  Slavery  in  Cuba,  because 
my  opportunities  for  observing  it  were  few.  In  a  certain  sense  the 
white  population  there  are  slaves,  and  of  course  the  state  of  the 
blacks  is  modified  by  that  circumstance ;  from  what  I  heard,  too, 
the  social  morality  of  the  Cubans  is  at  a  very  low  ebb,  their  religious 
principles  wretched,  and  the  prevalence  of  immorality  and  irreligion 
will  act  and  react  upon  the  blacks  as  well  as  the  whites;  so  I  do  not 


NEW    ORLEANS.  261 

believe  Cuba  to  be  a  country  where  Slavery,  as  a  system,  can  be 
fairly  studied.  We  expect  to  reach  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  to 
night  :  if  there  is  no  fog  our  captain  will  cross  the  bar ;  but  one 
hundred  miles  of  the  river  must  be  traversed  before  our  vessel 
reaches  New  Orleans,  and  I  shall  write  no  more  till  we  get  there. 

St.  Charles  Hotel,  New  Orleans,  March  29. — We  reached  this 
place  before  three  o'clock  yesterday ;  but  owing  to  the  tide  swinging 
the  Crescent  City  round  just  as  she  came  up  to  her  moorings,  there 
was  no  landing  till  after  four  o'clock.  I  did  not  undress  the  night 
before,  for  our  Seminole  accident  has  made  my  nerves  rather  touchy 
at  night ;  and  though  we  were  off  the  Mississippi  before  eleven,  the 
captain  was  obliged  to  fire  a  gun  three  times,  and  at  last  dispatched 
a  boat  before  he  could  get  a  pilot  on  board.  The  mouth  of  this 
river,  and  its  channel  for  the  first  hundred  miles,  is  narrow  and  poor 
compared  with  the  Walaki,  the  St.  Lawrence,  or  the  beautiful 
Ottawa  ;  I  am  told  it  is  wider  higher  up :  as  yet  I  have  seen  nothing 
on  its  low  muddy  banks  but  some  thriving  plantations  fringed  with 
neat  negro  dwellings.  Till  we  arrived  I  did  not  know  our  steamer 
was  named  from  the  shape  of  the  city,  which  is  built  upon  the 
crescent  form  of  the  shore.  I  never  saw  such  a  fleet  of  steamers  as 
line  its  wharves,  no,  not  even  at  London  or  Liverpool :  perhaps  this 
is  owing  to  their  being  all  moored  together ;  but  there  is  more 
shipping  here  than  I  have  observed  in  any  of  the  other  ports  except 
New  York  and  Boston.  The  place,  though  flat,  is  handsome  and 
apparently  well-built ;  but  although  it  has  been  for  so  many  years 
attached  to  the  United  States,  and  the  Creole  population  has  not 
now  a  majority,  yet  they  are  an  influential  ingredient,  and  give  the 
tone  to  manners  and  customs  ;  so  that  New  Orleans  has  more  of  a 
Southern  air  than  even  Charleston  or  Savannah. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


*   ^r*  <£ 


.  . 

i£  ^  ^     ^  ^  ^ 


LETTER  XXII. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  March  81, 1855. 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  left  the    St.  Glair   Hotel  yesterday.     Mi'.  Robert  G , 

brother  to  my  Virginian  friend,  called  to  bring  me  to  his  pleasant 
and  comfortable  house,  and  in  what  may  be  called  the  '  West-end  ' 
of  New  Orleans.  I  find  myself  established,  and  quite  at  home,  with 
every  luxury  and  attention  that  a  traveller  can  require.  The 
weather  is  still  as  fresh  and  cold  as  an  ordinary  dreary  March  with 
us,  though  more  roses  are  in  bloom  than  we  could  find  so  early  in 
the  year  in  England.  Several  loquat  trees  (Evyolotria  Japonica) 
placed  round  the  garden  are  only  just  beginning  to  ripen  their  de 
licious  fruit,  with  its  golden,  or  rather  apricot-coloured  hue  ;  in  most 
seasons,  before  April,  peas  and  strawberries  are  plentiful,  but  they 
are  not  yet  to  be  had.  My  ideas  are  rather  puzzled  about  seasons  : 
after  the  dog-days  in  Cuba,  I  feel  as  if  this  ought  to  be  autumn,  not 
spring ;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  an  interval  of  colder  weather  will 
be  salutary  to  our  constitutions  before  we  pass  the  approaching 
summer  in  the  Northern  States.  Instead  of  growing  thin  during 
my  travels,  I  was  beginning  to  fear  that,  on  my  return  to  England, 
I  should  make  my  appearance  in  too  portly  a  style ;  but  three  weeks 
at  Havana  have  obviated  that  fear.  In  my  room  here  it  is  pleasant 
to  have  a  four-post  bed,  which  brings  English  customs  to  mind. 


SLAVERY    V.    FREEDOM.  2C3 

I  never  saw  anything   but   French  bedsteads  in  the  North.     No 
curtains  are  required  ;  a  full  and  wide  mosquito-net,  without  opening, 
and  which  is  put  back  during  the  day,  and  looks  like  a  transparent 
bonnet-box  over  the  pillows,  is  drawn  forward  at  night,  and  protects 
me  completely  from  the  invasion  of  insects.     This  is  a  better  con 
trivance  than  those  at  Cuba,  where  I  found  a  persevering  mosquito 
would  often  succeed  in  establishing  itself  within  the  curtains.     The 
wood  of  which  the  bedstead  is  made  looks  like  a  kind  of  walnut ; 
the  top  has  a  heavy  projecting  eave — this,  I  am  told,  is  advantageous, 
as  it  gives  room  for  the  iron  rod  underneath,  upon  which  the  mos 
quito-net  is  hung.     While  I  am  writing  a  black  woman  enters  : 
they  walk  in  and  out  of  your  room,  just  as  the  fancy  takes  them, 
without  knocking ;  and  the  door  must  be  locked  if  one  does  not 
wish  to  be  intruded  on.     The  negroes  are  curious,  and  like  to  come 
and  ask  questions,  and  see  what  you  are  at,  so  '  Emily  '  inquires  if  I 
will  let  her  make  the  bed  while  I  am  in  the  room ;  being  as  well 
inclined  for  a  little  talk  as  herself  I  agree.    She  tells  me  the  coloured 
people  are  well  content  and  happy ;  that  she  was  '  raised  in  Virginny,' 
and  came  here  from  Richmond ;  that  masters  and  mistresses  about 
are  very  tender  of  their  people ;  that  she  has  got  her  husband  and 
three  children,  babies  almost,  the  youngest  an  infant,  then  in  the 
house ;  she  does  odd  jobs  after  dinner,  but  she  says  that  on  the 
plantations  it  is  not  often  the   people  work  after  dinner  (she   is 
munching  something  all  this  while)  ;  they  have  usually  task-work, 
which  can  be  quickly  done  if  they  choose ;  that  the  black  popula 
tion  don't  like  bacon — '  they  likes  to  have  fresh  meat  three  times  a- 
day,  and  what  they  likes  beside.'     She  seemed  utterly  astonished 
when  I  told  her  that  the  English  working-people  could  seldom  get 
meat  at  all,  and  that  they  had  not  as  much  firing  as  they  chose,  &c. 
&c.     '  Lord  bless  you,  missus,  that  would  never  do  at  all  here  : 
why,  some  of  the  coloured  ones  have  got  a'most  as  much  jewellery 
as  their  missuses;  they  gets  their  own  way  tolerable  somehow  ;  and 
they  very  often  desires  to  be  sold  when  they  be  affronted.'    '  Emily  ' 
thought  that  in  England   slaves  would  have  it  all  their  own  way 
entirely;  and  this  is  the  idea  the  darkies  havo   of  freedom  :  plenty 


264  SLAVERY    V.    FREEDOM. 

to  eat  and  drink,  finery  to  their  heart's  content — no  work.  Here 
they  despise  the  free  negroes.  One  woman  was  offered  her  freedom 
in  my  hearing :  she  took  the  offer  as  an  insult,  and  said,  I  know 
what  the  free  niggers  are,  missus  :  they  are  the  meanest  niggers  as 
ever  was ;  I  hopes  never  to  be  a  free  nigger,  missus.'  A  slave 
quarrelling  with  another  black,  after  calling  him  names,  at  last  sums 

up  as  the  acme  of  contempt, '  You  be  a  d d  nigger  without  a 

master ! '  This  is  the  consequence  of  the  fact,  that  free  negroes 
being  idle  and  profligate  are  generally  poor  and  miserable.  A  com 
mon  reproach  among  them  is  to  say,  *  You  be's  as  bad  as  a  free 
nigger.'  I  think  if  any  unprejudiced  person  sees  the  state  of  the 
free  black  population  in  Canada,  and  then  makes  a  tour  of  a  few 
months  in  the  Southern  States,  with  an  open  eye  and  unprejudiced 
mind,  he  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  things  are  better  than 
names ;  and  that  if  by  a  ukase  he  could  carry  back  all  the  darkies 
(from  ignorance  and  misrepresentation  induced  to  run  away  from 
their  masters),  he  would  benefit  the  blacks,  whatever  he  might  do 
for  the  whites,  who,  I  believe,  would  be  very  much  averse  to  receive 
these  contaminated  negroes  again,  except  from  motives  of  duty  and 
compassion. 

Mrs.  Stowe  gives  great  credit  to  a  young  lady  who,  becoming 
the  heiress  of  a  few  slaves,  gave  them  all  their  freedom.  I  have 
heard  of  a  young  lady  who  succeeded  to  the  possession  of  negroes, 
and  nothing  else  ;  by  emancipating  them  she  might  Lave  gained  a 
fine  character  from  the  Abolitionists,  and  have  cast  off  not  only  a 
responsibility,  but  a  heavy  expense ;  instead  of  which  she  sought  oc 
cupation  for  herself,  laboured  hard,  and  earned  the  means  of  exist 
ence  for  her  poor  black  dependents,  as  well  as  her  own  living.  Which 
of  these  two  ladies  acted  the  more  Christian  part  ?  Last  night,  con 
versing  with  a  very  intelligent  gentleman  who  has  travelled  in  Cana 
da,  I  remarked  that  the  free  negroes  there  were  in  a  much  more  de 
graded,  suffering,  and  irreligious  state  than  any  slaves  I  have  seen ; 
and  that  they  often  reproach  the  whites  with  having,  by  false  pre 
tences,  inveigled  them  to  their  destruction.  He  said,  '  I  will  tell  you 
a  circumstance  which  occurred  relative  to  that  matter.  A  confiden- 


SEPARATION    OF    NEGRO    FAMILIES.  265 

tial  black,  who  was  treated  with  the  greatest  kindness  by  his  master, 
took  it  into  his  head  one  clay  to  run  away,  with  the  idea  of  establish 
ing  himself  in  Canada.     When  in  that  country  I  accidentally  fell  in 
with  him.  acting  as  waiter  in  an  hotel :  we  immediately  recognized 
each  other ;  and,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  he  said,  *  Oh,  sir !  tell  of  the 
family ;  how  is  this  one,  how  is  that  ? '     I  answered  his  inquiries, 
and  then  asked  how  he  got  on.     *  I  get  on  in  the  season  pretty  well ; 
I  make  some  money,  but  very  bad  in  the  winter.     Oh,  sir !  beg  my 
dear  master  for  me  ;  beg  him  to  forgive,  and  take  me  back  again.* 
And  I  feel  sure  that  those  negroes  who  are  not  so  far  gone  in  drunk 
enness  and  profligacy,  as  to  have  lost  all  self-respect,  would  generally 
make  the  same  request ;  exceptions  only  prove  the  rule.    My  woman 
on  the  Detroit  River  was  taken  care  of  by  a  husband,  who,  having 
occupation  as  a  black  pilot  (an  employment  for  which  their  strong 
local  perception  peculiarly  fits  them)   was  the  only  really  contented 
black  I  met  with  ;  but  she  lost  her  children,  and  may,  perhaps,  end 
in  being  motherless  ;  while,  in  slavery,  they  would  have  been  healthy. 
As  to  the  separation  of  families,  I  see  that  great  pains  are  taken  to 
avoid  that  evil.     I  believe  that  it  hardly  occurs  more  frequently  than 
in  England  from  other  causes :  and  I  imagine  a  law  might  be  en 
acted  to  make  it  less  easy  here.     So  in  this  case,  as  in  every  other 
social  abuse,  the  governing  power  should  regulate,  but  not  wholly 
forbid,  or  the  result  will  be  the  encouragement  of  twenty  evils  where 
there  was  one  before.     I  have  seen  a  great  many  visitors  to-day  ; 
among  them  some  very  agreeable  people. 

April  1. — A  dinner-party  here  included  the  Bishop  and  Mrs. 
professors  Biddell  and  Linton  (the  latter  from  St.  Louis), 
Colonel  Seymour,  Dr.  Smith,  &c.,  &c.  I  am  invited  to  accompany 
a  party  into  the  State  of  Mississippi  to-morrow  or  Tuesday,  as  an 
expedition,  and  gladly  accept.  At  nine  o'clock  Mr.  Miltenberger 
called  to  take  me  to  the  Opera,  to  see  the  last  two  or  three  acts.  I 
have  been  little  gratified  by  the  operas  elsewhere  in  the  States.  At 
New  York,  Grisi  and  Mario  were  wretchedly  supported  :  and  the 
dresses  and  choruses  were  so  miserable  that  I  was  hardly  inclined  to 
do  more  than  just  look  in  at  the  house  here  ;  but  I  was  most  agree- 


266  CUBAN    WATCH    CRIES. 

ably  surprised.  The  Italian  Opera  in  London  was  never  better  mis 
en  scene,  though  Donizetti  was  given  in  French.  I  think  the  opera 
was  La  Reine  de  Chypre.  Although  the  prima  donna  was  neither 
Grisin  or  Sontag,  her  voice,  expression,  and  acting,  were  all  good ; 
her  toilette  perfect ;  indeed,  as  a  whole,  I  never  saw  a  piece  better 
costume  ;  being  close  to  the  stage,  the  details  were  made  evident  to 
me;  and  three  fine  male  voices  of  different  kinds,  gave  effect  to 
the  principal  characters.  I  must  go  again,  and  know  more  about 
this  opera  than  it  was  in  my  power  to  find  out  last  night. 

The  house,  though  not  large,  is  well  arranged,  but  after  a  diffe 
rent  plan  from  any  one  I  ever  saw  before.  I  was  told  that  being 
the  last  day  of  Lent,  the  Creole  ladies  were  not  there.  This  morn 
ing  the  weather  is  warm,  some  rain  the  night  before  last  has  softened 
the  air,  and  I  suppose  now  the  summer  will  come  here. 

By-the-bye,  I  got  a  lady  to  write  down  for  me  the  extraordinary 
and  terrific  screams  of  the  watchmen  at  Havana  and  Matanzas.  I 
must  let  you  have  the  benefit  of  them,  premising,  of  course,  that  the 
hours  vary  : — 

'  Las  diez  y  media  y  sereno.' 

'  Las  once  y  nublado.' 

'Las  doce,  y  la  ciudad  esta  siempre  fidelisima.' 

As  to  the  last  assurance,  I  think  I  should  not  be  sorry  it  should 
be  a  doubtful  one. 

There  is  a  report  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  has 
ordered  some  American  men-of-war  to  go  and  sink  the  Spanish 
frigate  which  fired  into  the  steamer.  I  don't  much  wonder  if  he  has 
done  so ;  and  really  I  think  Europe  might  be  inclined  to  join  with 
America  in  bringing  the  Spaniards  to  their  senses,  for  as  despots 
they  are  quite  as  bad  as  the  Russians  when  they  dare  to  show  their 
will,  and  in  cruelty  worse.  I  must  tell  a  story,  which  will  exemplify 
the  mode  of  government  and  internal  state  of  Cuba  more  graphical 
ly  than  anything  else  I  can  write. 

Not  long  ago  there  was  a  servile  6meute  among  the  negroes  of  a 
plantation  ;  the  authorities  immediately  seize  the  ringleaders,  torture 


CUBAN    LAW.  267 

them  with  cat-o'-nine-tails,  with  nails  in  them,  cutting  flesh  oft*  their 
backs,  inquiring  all  the  time,  '  Did  so  and  so  instigate  you — or,  so 
and  so  ? '  The  poor  blacks  at  first  answered  truly,  '  No  one  told  us 
— we  did  it  ourselves.'  At  last  the  name  of  a  planter  forty  miles  off 
was  mentioned,  and  not  knowing  him,  to  escape  from  torture  one 
said,  '  Yes,  rnassa — he,  massa.'  This  gentleman  was  busy  on  his 
grounds  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  forty  soldiers 
entered,  and  asked  his  name  ;  he  gave  it,  and  civilly  invited  them  to 
take  some  refreshment ;  but  they  immediately  put  a  rope  round  his 
neck,  and  proceeded  to  attach  it  to  one  of  their  horses.  He  entreated 
that  if  they  meant  to  take  him  prisoner,  they  would  at  least  al 
low  him  to  mount  one  of  his  own  saddle-horses.  But  no ;  they 
actually  trotted  this  man  of  property  and  education  forty  miles, 
dragging  him  after  them.  When  they  arrived  at  the  place  where  he 
was  to  be  confined  and  examined,  eleven  other  people  were  selected 
to  stand  with  him.  The  negroes  were  then  brought  in,  and  desired 

to  point  out  Mr. .  Fortunately  for  him,  being  quite  unknown  to 

them,  they  selected  the  wrong  man  ;  but  if  by  any  accident  they 
had  pitched  upon  him,  his  life  would  have  been  the  forfeit.  As 
soon  as  his  non-complicity  was  thus  ascertained,  the  negroes  were 

taken  out  and  shot  without  further  ceremony,  and  Mr. was 

allowed  to  find  his  way  back  to  his  own  home.  This  is  Cuban  law 
and  justice.  It  may  be  guessed  what  kind  of  a  chance  was  afforded 
to  Pinto. 

Yesterday,  April  1st,  was  Sunday ;  Bishop  P called  and 

took  me  to  his  church,  where  the  service  was  like  ours,  with  the  ex 
ception  only  of  a  few  omissions.  The  interior  of  the  edifice  was 
ornamented  with  sufficient  painted  glass  to  throw  a  cool  light  into 
it  without  making  it  obscure,  and  all  the  decorations  were  in  good 
taste.  The  1st  of  April  might  have  been  May  with  us — the  tem 
perature  just  high  enough  for  enjoyment. 

April  2. — Mrs.  G took  me  to  visit  a  lady  in  the  neighbour 
hood,  in  whose  garden  I  found  many  things  new  to  me,  principally 
shrubs.  A  capsicum  as  small  as  a  pea,  which  looks  like  something 
different  from  what  we  call  bird  pepper ;  and  a  privet,  which,  though 


268  DINNER    AT   THE    BRITISH    CONSULTS. 

the  leaves  resemble  a  Chinese  privet,  I  think  is  hardly  the  same,  as 
it  is  quite  a  timber  tree,  and  very  handsome.  I  gathered  many 
seeds. 

I  dined  with  the  British  Consul,  Mr.  Muir,  and  met  his  mother- 
in-law,  an  agreeable  old  lady,  though  she  is  of  the  Wilberforce  and 
Hannah  More  school,  almost  the  only  person  I  have  met  with  south 
who  still  advocates  abolitionist  ideas  ;  her  son-in-law,  a  clergyman, 
and  a  granddaughter  did  not  agree  with  her  in  opinion.  I  afterwards 

drank  tea  with  the  Bishop  and  Mrs.  P .     One  remark  of  his 

struck  me  :  he  said,  that  for  the  sake  of  the  Christian  and  moral 
welfare  of  the  Irish  emigrants  and  the  African  negroes,  he  would 
desire  to  pass  a  majority  of  the  former  through  the  kitchens,  and  all 
the  latter  through  the  plantations,  of  the  United  States.  The  Irish 
paupers  are  so  ultra  in  their  politics,  and  so  saucy  in  their  manners, 
that  they  have  given  rise  to  the  '  Know-nothing '  movement,  which, 
however  reprehensible  in  its  mode  of  proceeding,  is  only  a  practical 
illustration  of  the  impossibility  of  fairly  carrying  out  the  idea  of 
equality.  These  emigrants  are  without  doubt,  as  a  class,  the  most 
disagreeable  and  overbearing  people  in  the  Union.  They  are  speci 
mens  of  the  true  democrat  when  united  with  ignorance — levelling 
all  above  themselves,  and  insolent  to  those  they  fancy  beneath  them. 

Bishop  P walked  home  with  me ;  no  bonnet,  and  hardly  a 

shawl  was  required  ;  the  evening  balmy  and  pleasant— just  perfect 
in  temperature. 

Osyka,  April  5.— I  date  from  one  of  those  marvellous  places  in 
the  Bush,  which  in  this  part  of  the  world  are  born,  educated,  and 
grown  up  in  the  course  of  a  few  months.  When  I  landed  at  Bos 
ton,  there  was  not  a  tree  felled  where  this  town  is  now  in  existence ; 
yet  I  am  in  a  comfortable  hotel,  entertaining  thirty  or  forty  guests 
daily  at  its  table-d'hote.  This  house,  the  woman  said,  'had  been 
built  full  five  months.'  The  town  as  yet  does  not  consist  of  more 
than  fifty  houses ;  but  there  are  two  hotels,  three  or  four  stores,  a 
good  railway  station,  and  everything  else  looking  as  if  established 
thirty  years,  excepting  that  as  yet  there  is  no  church,  and  the  stumps 
of  trees  are  still  left  in  all  directions.  But  I  must  begin  from  the 


RAILROAD    ACCIDENTS. 


269 


beginning,  and  tell  the  adventures  which  have  obliged  me  to  sleep 
at  Osyka,  with  an  uncertainty  as  to  when  I  am  to  get  back  to  New 
Orleans.     As  I  had  made  two  pleasant  acquaintances  there— Dr. 
Smith  and  Dr.  Riddell  (the  latter  has  bought  a  house  and  property 
eighty-six  miles  off,  in  the  Mississippi  territory,  where  he  means  to 
move  his  wife  and  family  when  the  heat  sets  in)— they  invited  me 
to  accompany  them  in  an  expedition  to  see  a  pretty  country  beyond 
the  pine  barrens,  which  stretch  away  as  far  as  the  State  of  Missis 
sippi  ;  a  railroad  has  been  opened  in  that  direction  during  the  last 
year.     We  started  yesterday  at  seven  o'clock ;  at  a  station  about 
half-way  here,  one  of  the  points  being  wrong,  the  engine  ran  off 
and  plunged  deep  into  a  quagmire  ;  the  train  was  brought-up  with 
out  damage  to  any  one  except  a  poor  boy,  who  was  at  that  moment 
oiling  the  cow-catcher  :  he  imprudently  jumped  off,  and  he  was  so 
seriously  injured  that  he  is  since  dead.     We  got  out,  walked  to  the 
station,  and  in  about  half-an  hour  another  engine  was  attached  to 
the  cars ;  we  reacked  Osyka  by  two  o'clock,  though,  at  my  request, 
the  conductor  brought-up  the  train  for  a  few  minutes  to  get  some 
specimens   of   a   very  curious  water-plant,  something   between   a 
Pothos  and  an  Orontiuin,  which  Dr.  Riddell  agrees  with  me  is  new: 
it  resembles  Loudon's  description  of  Pothos  acaulis,  having  leaves 
quite  destitute  of  nerves,  but  the  spike  is  hexandrous,  not   tri- 
androus. 

There  was  some  difficulty  in  getting  a  conveyance  five  miles  to 
the  pretty  location,  which  Dr.  Riddell  promises  to  call  'Chatawa* 
(Silver  Spring).  There  is  a  beautiful  spring  close  to  the  house,  and 
various  mineral  springs,  containing  iron  and  soda,  at  a  short  distance 
from  it,  I  walked  about  a  mile  and  a  half  through  the  forest,  de 
lighted  by  the  brilliant  butterflies  and  flowers.  I  found  old  acquaint 
ances  in  our  gardens  at  every  step — Viola  cucullata,  Sisyrinchium 
anceps,  Verbena  aubletia,  Houstonias,  Phloxes,  Alliums,  and  Tril- 
liums,  a  curious  Assarum,  and  a  plant  with  two  leaves  (Podophyl- 
lum,  May  apple),  which  they  tell  me  produces  a  fruit  so  excellent, 
and  so  fragrant  when  ripe  that  it  can  be  scented  yards  away.  The 
people  call  it  May  apple.  I  shall  find  out  its  trivial  name,  but  at 


270  DETENTION    AT    OSYKA. 

present  it  has  only  just  put  forth  leaves,  and  there  is  no  sign  of  a 
flower.  It  is  not  more  than  a  foot  in  height,  with  toothed  foliage  as 
large  as  a  cucumber  leaf,  but  smooth,  shining,  and  variegated.  At 
'  Chatawa,'  I  found  a  numerous  German-Polish  family — children  of 
all  ages — fathers,  mothers,  uncles,  aunts,  nephews,  nieces — very 

hospitable  people,  who  have  sold  their  house  to  Dr.  M ,  with 

the  intention  of  flitting  to  Osyka,  which  will  soon  be  a  place  of 
consideration.  I  had  a  comfortable  bed,  and  all  the  necessaries  of 
life,  though  not  many  of  its  luxuries  ;  and,  after  twenty-four  hours 
of  enjoyment  in  a  lovely  spot,  with  every  promise  of  increased 
beauty  under  better  cultivation,  I  got  into  a  wagon  and  left  the 
banks  of  the  Tangipahoa  River  and  the  mineral  springs  which 
surround  it,  with  regret  that  I  could  not  follow  the  projected  line  of 
the  railroad  (as  yet  only  complete  to  Osyka,  so  called  by  the  first 
proprietor  after  an  Indian  beauty),  thirty  miles  farther  to  the  river 
Balsala,  where  I  understand  the  scenery  is  still  fine;  and  perhaps 
I  might  have  done  so  instead  of  spending  another  day  and  night 
here,  for  when  we  arrived  at  half-past  one  o'clock  yesterday  to  take 
the  two  o'clock  cars,  no  train  had  arrived,  nor  has  yet  arrived  from 
New  Orleans.  Either  some  accident,  some  damage  to  the  loco 
motive,  or  some  obstruction,  has  occurred  ;  and  now,  at  eight  o'clock 
on  Thursday  the  5th,  we  are  still  detained,  without  being  able  to 
guess  when  we  are  to  have  the  means  of  return.  Still,  I  am  not 
borec[ — there  is  plenty  of  interest  and  amusement ;  for  I  find  fortifi 
cation  agates  and  flint  fossils  in  the  railway-cutting  above,  besides 
the  flowers  of  the  pine  barrens  around,  and  as  long  as  the  cars 
which  were  to  fetch  us  have  not  sunk  in  some  of  the  swamps  we 
yesterday  traversed  (when  the  train  danced  up  and  down  on  the 
line  more  than  was  pleasant,  from  the  boggy  nature  of  the  ground), 
I  am  content  to  wait  here  for  twenty-four  hours  more. 

New  Orleans,  April  6. — The  cars  came  up  to  Osyka  so  as  to 
bring  us  back  here  by  seven  o'clock  last  night.  It  seems  they  had 
other  accidents  during  their  return  on  the  3rd,  by  running  over  cattle, 
till  the  locomotive  jumped  into  a  bog,  fortunately  breaking  its 
couplings,  so  that  the  cars  were  left  on  the  line,  where,  of  course,  the 


ASYLUM    FOR   WIDOWS.  271 

passengers  sat  up  all  night.  Between  damaging  engines  and  killing 
cows,  the  economy  of  leaving  railroads  without  protecting  them  by 
fences,  in  a  country  where  wood  is  of  such  easy  attainment,  appears 
to  me  very  short-sighted.  Thunder-storms  began  early  to-day ;  they 
accompanied  our  journey,  and  have  been  pealing  and  blazing  all 
night.  I  never  saw  such  lightning ;  and  the  torrents  of  rain  are 
sufficient,  I  should  think,  to  overflow  the  Mississippi  and  swamp  New 
Orleans,  situated  as  it  is  lower  than  the  river.  I  cannot  understand 
how  this  city  keeps  out  of  the  water.  I  hear  about  banks  called 
levies,  but  Holland  must  be  a  joke  in  comparison  to  this  amphibious 
place. 

April  7. — Yesterday,  being  Good  Friday,  was  strictly  kept  here  : 
that  is  not  the  case,  I  believe,  in  any  other  State  of  the  Union.  The 
day  was  gloomy,  but  not  wet ;  an  afternoon  rainbow  gave  promise 
of  fine  weather,  which  is  realized  this  morning,  and  I  hope  to  see 
more  of  the  environs  of  New  Orleans  than  I  have  done  as  yet. 

April  8. — Another  execution  at  Havana.  But  however  severe 
and  cruel  the  Cuban  policy  may  be,  there  seems  to  have  been  suffi 
cient  proof  that  Estampes  was  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  against 
Spanish  despotism,  and  therefore  his  condemnation  stands  on  differ 
ent  grounds  from  that  of  Ramon  Pinto. 

I  visited  a  widows'  asylum,  not  long  opened  here,  which  appears 
to  be  one  of  the  best  regulated  charities  I  have  ever  seen.  It  does 
not  separate  mothers  from  children,  but  offers  a  home  to  both,  only 
premising  that  the  former  are  to  contribute  their  labour,  as  washer 
women,  sempstresses,  &c.  <fec.  towards  the  support  of  the  institution. 
A  few  pensioners  without  families  are  sheltered  and  provided  for, 
when  incapable  of  exertion ;  but  the  system  is  one  of  assistance  to 
those  who  are  willing  to  work. 

Order,  cleanliness,  and  comfort  reign  throughout  the  asylum; 
and  an  excellent  Scotch  matron  superintends  it,  under  the  direction 
of  a  committee.  The  children,  from  infants  of  a  few  days  to  those 
able  to  be  employed,  are  well  trained  and  taught  under  the  eye  of 
their  mothers.  All  the  inmates  expressed  themselves  with  grati 
tude;  in  some  cases  respectable  aged  widows  had  their  private 


272  UNHEALTHY   LOCATION. 

apartment;  in  others  we  saw  mothers  with  their  own  two  or  three 
children.  Widows  without  families  have  a  separate  eating-room,  and 
live  at  one  side  of  the  house,  away  from  the  noise  of  children. 

I  heard  an  amusing  story  yesterday,  exemplifying  negro  charac 
ter.  A  gentleman  had  ordered  one  of  his  black  gardeners  to  widen 

a  ditch,  and  as  he  complained  of  the  difficulty  of  the  job,  Mr.  

engaged  a  white  labourer  to  assist  him.  The  two  men  were  left  to 
work  on  together.  After  a  while,  the  master  went  to  see  how  the 
job  got  on :  he  found  that  the  Irishman  had  done  three  times  the 
work  the  other  had  accomplished. 

'  How  is  this,  Charles  ? '  said  Mr. ;  '  you  have  done  very 

little.     See  how  much  more  the  other  labourer  has  finished.' 

'  Ah,  massa,  that  very  true ;  but  white  man  use  to  work.  You 
can't  'spect  me — a  nigger — demean  myself  like  he.' 

And  it  is  generally  so :  the  negroes  consider  themselves  as  privi 
leged,  instead  of  being  degraded  by  their  situation.  A  black  com 
plained  that  his  master  did  not  use  him  well.  *  But  how  is  that ; 
pray  do  you  not  get  good  bread  ? ' — '  Yes,  massa,  pretty  good  bread.' 
— '  Have  you  not  enough,  then  ?  Are  you  overtasked  ?  Do  you 
get  as  much  meat  as  you  like  ? ' — '  Ay,  rnassa ;  but  then  the  meat 
too  fat — me  don't  'prove  fat  meat.'  When  masters  or  mistresses 
want  change,  it  is  a  common  occurrence  for  them  to  apply  to  their 
negroes,  who  have  almost  always  silver  about  them. 

It  is  observed  that  many  of  the  Irish  emigrants  have  the  same 
unfounded  notions  of  their  prospects  in  America,  as  those  entertained 
by  some  negroes,  of  England.  An  Irishman  begging,  was  offered  a 
job  of  work ;  he  accepted  it,  but  said  he  thought  it '  very  hard.' — 
*  Hard,'  said  his  employer ;  '  what  do  you  mean  ?  Did  you  come 
here  and  expect  to  pick  up  gold  in  the  streets  ? ' — *  No,  not  alto 
gether  that,  but  I  thought  if  I  asked  for  it,  it  would  be  given  me.' — 
4  But  suppose  I  divided  what  I  have  with  you — what  would  happen 
when  that  should  be  gone  ? ' — *  Arrah ! '  said  Pat,  *  I  don't  exactly 
know — but  I  suppose  then  we  must  divide  again  ! ' 

I  cannot  wonder  that  this  place  is  unhealthy  during  the  hot  sea 
son  ;  there  are  deep  gutters  and  stagnant  waters  at  the  sides  of  al- 


PINTO's    CONSPIRACY.  273 

most  all  the  streets.  It  would  be  a  marvel  if  yellow  fever,  or  some 
thing  of  the  kind,  did  not  prevail.  Whether  the  situation  is  so  low 
that  good  drainage  is  impossible,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  I  only  wonder 
that  the  population  is  not  decimated  every  summer.  I  should  be 
sorry  to  take  my  chance  in  such  a  swamp. 

On  Sunday  I  attended  a  church  where  the  singing,  though  good 
in  its  way,  reminded  me  more  of  a  Roman  Catholic  than  a  Protestant 
house  of  worship;  it  was  not  congregational,  but  operatic. 

April  9. — I  have  been  occupied  all  the  morning  writing  letters 
to  England.  The  Illustrated  News  of  the  10th  of  March  gives  an 
apocryphal  report  of  the  4  Dangerous  Conspiracy  at  Cuba,'  in  which 
Ramon  Pinto  is  asserted  to  have  announced  his  intention  of  assas 
sinating  the  Capitan-Generale  in  his  box  at  the  opera.  This  is  the 
authorized  version,  I  suppose ;  but  no  person  acquainted  with  the 
character  of  Pinto  will  believe  it  true.  In  the  first  place,  even  his 
enemies  admit  that  he  was  a  man  of  sense,  talent,  and  principle ;  and 
those  who  know  the  present  state  of  Havana  must  be  well  aware 
that  such  a  plot  would  have  been  absurd  and  silly,  as  well  as  wicked. 
Anonymous  and  false  stories  are  easily  got  up  and  propagated  when 
a  man  is  dead,  and  cannot  refute  them ;  but  the  time  will  come  for 
such  accusations  to  recoil  upon  the  inventors. 

Certainly  the  black  servants  in  this  country  are  more  petted  and 
humoured  than  even  the  domestics  of  Europe  !  There  is  an  inge 
nious  kind  of  diorama  of  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  now  exhibiting 
here.  Six  household  blacks,  belonging  to  a  lady  here,  were  to  go 
and  see  it.  In  England  three  servants  would  have  gone  one  even 
ing,  and  three  another ;  but  here  they  preferred  to  enjoy  the  sight 
all  together,  so  the  mistress  and  her  daughters  undertook  every  de 
partment  of  household  work,  even  to  that  of  the  kitchen,  that  the 
black  ladies  and  gentlemen  might  gratify  their  wishes.  I  could 
write  fifty  stories  of  this  kind,  which  prove  the  kindness  and  conside 
ration  shown  towards  the  race  called  slaves.  The  name  of  *  dark 
children '  would,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  be  more  appropriate.  It 
is  the  fashion  with  us  to  cry  up  the  Spanish  system  in  preference  to 
that  of  the  United  States.  Whatever  the  laws  may  be,  I  feel  sure 

13 


274  REMARKS    ON    SLAVERY. 

there  is  more  of  oppression  and  cruelty  to  bo  detected  in  Cuba  than 
in  all  the  other  Southern  States  put  together.  We  must  bear  in 
mind  that  the  best  laws  will  not  prevent  the  possibility  of  their 
violation  ;  and  I  sometimes  doubt  whether  more  cases  of  cruelty  and 
overwork,  and  even  starvation,  among  apprentices  and  '  rnaids-of-all- 
work '  in  Great  Britain  might  not  be  discovered,  than  we  could  de 
tect  in  the  households  and  plantations  here.  The  buying  and  selling 
operation  is  certainly  very  unpleasant  and  revolting  to  our  ideas,  and 
the  whites  here  dislike  it ;  but  it  is  curious  how  very  little  is  thought 
of  the  matter  by  the  blacks  themselves.  It  is  not  true  that  women 
can  be  sold  away  from  their  children ;  but  slaves  often  urge  their 
masters  and  mistresses  to  sell  them  for  some  fancy  or  freak,  and  a 
gentleman  to-day  had  a  quarrel  with  his  negroes,  because  he  wanted 
to  set  them  free.  *  It's  very  hard,  master  ;  you  have  a  right  to  keep  us, 
master ; '  and  at  last  the  majority  positively  refused  to  go,  even  though 
master  offered  them  a  '  fit-out '  if  they  would  accept  their  freedom. 
I  believe  they  are  quite  right.  With  all  my  love  of  liberty,  if  I  was  of 
theblack  race,  I  should  much  prefer  being  a  slave  upon  one  of  the  Sou 
thern  plantations  than  any  free  black  man  or  woman  I  ever  met  with 
in  America.  So,  in  now  thinking  Slavery  not  so  bad  an  institution, 
I  act  up  to  the  maxim  of  '  doing  as  I  would  be  done  by.'  This  week 
I  am  going  to  visit  plantations  in  this  neighbourhood,  but  I  have  now 
seen  so  much  and  thought  so  much  upon  the  general  question,  and 
also  of  the  character  of  negroes  as  a  race,  that  I  do  not  think  any 
thing  I  may  see  in  Louisiana,  Texas,  or  Kentucky,  can  much  alter  my 
conclusions.  My  wish  has  been  to  seek  after  truth  ;  I  suppose  many 
will  doubt  my  having  attained  it,  but  one  thing  I  know,  that  it  has  been 
sought  for  by  an  unprejudiced  mind,  without  reference  to  any  ulterior 
consequences.  No  pains  or  fatigue  have  deterred  me  from  investi 
gation.  I  give  you  the  fruits  of  it — consequences  are  not  my  affair. 

Last  night  I  went  to  see  the  diorama  exemplifying  the  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  in  the  hope  that  it  might  make  me  more  worthy  than  I 
am  of  a  work  which  has  been  one  of  the  most  highly  valued  of  all 
literary  productions ;  but  in  vain — excepting  the  Parables,  and  one 
or  two  stories  in  the  Spectator,  I  never  could  enjoy  anything  allego- 


THE    MISSISSIPPI.  275 

rical.  A  brief  allegory  is  very  well — but  an  allegorical  volume!  I 
never  could  wade  through  it ! 

All  the  houses  here,  except  some  in  the  old  town  and  centre 
streets,  have  gardens — not  very  extensive,  generally  from  a  quarter 
to  half  an  acre ;  but  the  soil  and  climate  is  such  that  everything 
grows  luxuriantly.  Magnolias,  jessamine,  roses,  oranges,  lemons, 
loquats,  and  a  hundred  other  things  beautiful  and  good ;  and  then 
the  mocking-birds  and  butterflies,  and  the  pretty  little  chameleons  ! 
For  this  month  it  is  delightful  to  be  at  New  Orleans ;  but  one  month 
in  the  year  in  this  city — that  should  be  all.  I  would  not  be  a  resi 
dent  here  for  any  temptation  that  could  be  offered  me.  I  wonder 
whether  the  Mississippi  will  ever  descend  from  its  trough  and  make 
an  excursion  to  Lake  Pontchartrain  ?  It  has  wandered  about  here 
and  there  in  its  time,  and  it  is  a  marvel  to  me  how  this  same  river 
now  keeps  up  above  the  surrounding  country.  It  brings  down  so 
much  clay  from  above,  that  when  the  water  runs  over,  it  makes  a 
kind  of  boundary  for  itself  at  the  edge,  and  this,  with  the  help  of 
artificial  levees,  makes  the  great  stream  stay  in  its  course.  But  I  am 
disappointed  to  find  it  so  ugly  and  muddy ;  they  say  this  is  all  the 
fault  of  the  Missouri,  which  darkens  and  spoils  the  complexion  of  the 
Mississippi  after  their  union. 

Thursday,  April  12. — Yesterday  I  went  to  a  wedding.  Like  all 
others  I  have  attended,  the  ceremony  (episcopal)  took  place  in  a 
room  ;  otherwise  it  was  very  pleasing.  The  bride  and  bridegroom 
remained  for  lunch,  but  no  toasts  were  given.  The  ladies  all  sat 
down,  waited  on  by  the  gentlemen,  and  when  we  left  the  room  the 
gentlemen  took  posesssion  of  the  table.  After  dinner,  I  walked  to 
call  on  the  Bishop  and  on  Mrs.  Polk.  Visits  in  these  countries  are 
usually  paid  in  the  evening,  to  avoid  the  heat  of  the  sun.  It  was 
the  same  in  Cuba. 

Yesterday,  a  clergyman  who  has  been  long  in  the  employment 
of  the  Colonization  Society  for  establishing  free  negroes  in  Africa  (the 
Bishop  presides  over  the  one  here),  called  to  make  his  report.  His 
views  accord  with  those  I  have  advocated.  He  is  convinced  that 
there  has  been  too  hasty  emancipation,  and  that  the  Liberian  plan 


2*76  PLANS. 


has  been  much  injured  by  a  want  of  discrimination  in  the  choice  of 
the  blacks  sent  out  there.  He  told  us  a  mulatto  from  Louisiana  was 
anxious  to  keep  his  people  under  the  same  control  which  benefits 
them  here,  to  avoid  throwing  them  into  the  contamination  of 
Liberian  society  ;  but  the  charter  of  freedom  in  that  Colony  is  so 
strict,  that  his  only  resource  was  to  get  far  enough  to  be  out  of  the 
reach  of  mischief,  and  to  bind  his  people  by  the  apprenticeship  law, 
which,  though  good  as  far  as  it  goes,  does  not  tend  as  much  either 
to  the  happiness  or  the  ultimate  good  of  the  negro  as  the  slavery 
system  well  administered.  When  this  is  the  opinion  of  Ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  and  of  Bishops,  not  themselves  slaveholders,  is  it  reason 
able  of  the  abolitionist  theorizers  in  England  and  America  to  fancy 
that  their  opinion  and  their  conclusions  are  the  only  true  and  scrip 
tural  ones  ? 

On  Sunday  next,  I  find  that  a  steamer  sails  for  Texas.  Upon 
good  advice,  my  plan  is  to  land  at  Galveston,  across  a  large  land 
locked  bay,  and  up  a  bayou  to  Houston,  where  we  can  procure  a 
stage  to  a  Texas  Washington  ;  from  thence  I  can  reach  the  capital, 
Austin,  on  the  Colorado  River,  a  place  which  though  bordering 
upon  the  inaccessible  forests,  I  am  told  has  great  beauty  of  scenery 
in  its  neighbourhood.  I  wish  to  avoid  wild  Indians  and  poisonous 
snakes,  so  I  must  not  attempt  to  penetrate  inland  ;  it  is  said  that 
from  Austen  we  must  come  down  somewhere  between  the  two  rivers 
La  Bara  and  Colorado,  to  Matagorda  Bay,  where  a  steamer  will  be 
attained  to  bring  us  back  here,  touching  at  Galveston.  The  voyages 
must  be  about  two  days  and  nights  each  way.  You  will  think  me 
adventurous  to  undertake  this;  but  these  new  countries  are  so 
interesting  to  a  person  fond  of  Natural  History  and  fine  scenery, 
that  one  makes  up  one's  mind  to  undergo  some  inconvenience  and 
difficulty  for  the  great  pleasure  with  which  the  journey  is  repaid. 
Then  there  is  the  stimulant  of  an  only  opportunity  !  The  idea  that 
I  never  again  can  hope  to  have  another  opportunity  for  transatlantic 
tours,  makes  me  willing  to  undergo  a  great  deal,—  and  on  the  whole 
I  think  southern  scenery  will  be  better  worth  my  while  than  the 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  or  even  Lake  Superior.  I  walked  this  morning 


A    PATERNAL   SLAVEHOLDER.  277 

from  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  to  the  cottage,  and  found  Professor  Rid- 
dell  returned  from  Chatawa.  We  looked  at  specimens  of  Orontium 
aquaticum,  and  decided  our  Osyka  specimens  are  not  the  same 

Orontium  as  that.     I  then  went  to  see  Mr.  L ,  who  promises  to 

take  me  to  his  plantation  to-morrow. 

New  Orleans,  April  14. — We  missed  the  train  yesterday  by  two 
minutes,  owing  to  the  ferry-boat  which  crosses  the  river  to  the 
station  being  too  late ;  but  Mr.  L being  a  director  of  that  rail 
road,  got  us  into  a  baggage  truck  of  a  succeeding  train,  in  which, 
comfortably  seated  on  boxes,  we  reached  our  destination.  Mr. 

L carried  a  bag  of  sugar-plums  for  the  little  negroes.     We  saw 

more  than  fifty  under  ten  years  of  age  on  the  two   plantations. 

The  black  people  seemed  to  consider  Mr.  L more  in  the  light  of 

their  father  than  their  master,  their  black  hands  held  out  to  him  and 

Mrs.  F ,  without  either  doubt  or  fear,  and  at  every  corner  some 

darky  was  to  be  met,  with  a  request  or  an  inquiry.  We  returned 
in  the  evening,  after  a  pleasant  and  satisfactory  day,  having  visited 
two  sugar  estates,  at  a  distance  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  miles 
from  New  Orleans  on  the  Mississippi. 

On  board  the  Steamer  Louisiana,  bound  for  Texas,  April  15. — 

Yesterday  was  a  busy  day.     Before  nine  in  the  morning  Mr.  D 

took  me  a  drive  to  dig  up  some  roots  of  a  pretty  Iris  (Hexagona), 
which  I  had  seen  flowering  in  one  of  the  canals  which  surround  the  city. 
These  canals,  half  natural  and  half  artificial,  are  communications 
between  the  river  and  the  lakes  at  the  back  of  the  city  :  they  are 
called  Bayous.  At  one  o'clock  I  went  to  the  apartments  of  some 
ladies  in  the  St.  Charles  Hotel,  from  whence  the  British  Consul  ac 
companied  us  to  the  stand  on  the  course,  from  whence  we  saw  a 
race  between  two  celebrated  horses,  Lexington  and  Leconte.  A  few 
days  before,  the  former  won  a  match  against  time,  by  going  four 
miles  in  seven  minutes  and  twenty  seconds  ;  he  now  beat  his  an 
tagonist  with  such  ease  the  first  four-mile  heat,  that  the  owner  of 
Leconte  requested  leave  to  withdraw  his  horse,  and  the  people  were 
disappointed  of  the  expected  second  heat.  I  was  glad,  being  quite 
content  that  the  fine  animals  should  be  excused  further  contest. 


278  A    HIGH-METTLED    RACER. 

Though  I  have  often  been  at  English  races,  I  never  before  saw  a 
horse  more  graceful,  or  more  beautifully  formed,  with  such  apparent 
gentleness  and  good  temper,  and  yet  with  such  an  air  of  conscious 
superiority  as  this  Lexington :   he  ran  like  a  deer,  without  either 
effort  or  straining,  and  his  firm,  elastic,  reaching  step  in  walking, 
gave  one  confidence  that  it  would  hardly  be  possible  for  any  other 
horse  to  match  him.    Yet  he  has  four  very  white  feet,  which  hitherto 
has  been  considered  a  bad  sign  ;  his  colour  a  bright  dark-bay,  with 
white  star  on  his  forehead,  not  a  very  small  head,  but  with    ears 
well-placed  ;  a  fine  ]arge  tail ;  not  bony-looking,  but  I  was  told  his 
backbone  is  remarkably  large ;  fifteen  hands  three  inches  high  ;  one 
eye  full  and  wild,  but  the  right  eye  less  convex ;  nostrils  large  ; 
jawbone  uncommonly  wide;  shoulder  strong  and  very  oblique;  he 
has  not  a  long  back  or  long  legs,  but  his  action  is  quite  beautiful, 
so  powerful,  free  and  elastic,  as  if  movement  was  no  trouble  to  him. 
Thus,  I  have  written  you  a  rather  groomish  history.     I  don't  know 
that  I  ever  took  so  much  pains  to  describe  a  horse  before,  but  really 
this  one  was  worth  the  pains.     The  ground  was  much  crowded  ;  it 
is  a  two-mile  course— no,  by-the-bye,  the  horses  went  three  times 
round  to  make  up  their  four  miles.     The  situation  between  the  New- 
Orleans  Cemeteries   and  Lake  Pontchartrain  ;  near,  and  upon  the 
course,  are  some  fine  live  oaks  ornamented  by  the  drooping  Tilland- 
sia.     In  the  evening  I  went  to  the  Opera,  where  I  saw  many  Creole 
beauties  ;  but  the  opera  was  a  new  one,  which  I  did  not  admire  as 
much  as  La  Reine  de  Chypre.     This  morning  at  eight  o'clock  Mr. 

G took  me  on  board  the  Galveston  steamer,  Louisiana.     The 

river  was  calm,  but  very  muddy ;  it  is  about  as  wide  here  as  the 
Thames  at  Greenwich.  The  town  and  shipping  looked  gay  under 
a  brilliant  morning  sun.  I  meant  to  send  this  letter  from  New 
Orleans,  but  forgot  to  do  so,  and  now  I  shall  try  to  get  it  off  from 

Texas. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.*  M.  M. 


LETTER   FROM    ENGLAND. 


279 


Extracted  from  an  English  Letter,  by  permission. 

March,  1855. 

To  me  much  has  happened,  within  the  last  few  months,  showing- 
manhood  and  womanhood.    This  expedition  of  nurses— this  woman's 
crusade  in  the  service  of  the  sufferers  by  war  and  pestilence ;  Flor 
ence  Nightingale  entreated  rather  than  requested  by  the  government 
to  take  the  command ;  in  one  week  the  necessary  preparations  were 
made— Protestants,  Catholics,  Sectarians,  all  forgot  their  isms,  and 
verified  the  story  in  Evenings  at  Home.     Look  at  the  consequences, 
independently  of  the  direct  object.    A  woman  is  called  upon  by  the 
public  to  take  a  lead  in  the  humane  department  of  war,  amidst  diffi 
culties  and  dangers  which  it  has  hitherto  been  thought  indelicate  for 
a  woman  to  encounter,  yet  she  is  of  the  true  feminine  type — of  a 
caste  accustomed  to  the  luxuries  and  refinements  of  life,  not  blighted 
by  misfortune,  in  the  vigour  of  youth,  not  exalted  by  party  influ 
ences,  for  she  belongs  to  no  party.    The  truth  has  done  it.    Perhaps 
the  two  finest  instances  of  heroism  in  the  British  campaign  are  these 
—the  death  of  Sir  William  Young  when  giving  the  precious  draught 
to  a  wounded  Russian,  receiving  in  return  a  mortal  shot;  the  abso 
lute  loneliness  of  Dr.  Thompson,  left  with  hundreds  of  the  dead  and 
dying,  and  certain  to  be  visited  by  Cossacks,  fulfilling  his  ministry, 
escaping  then,  to  die  a  few  days  after  of  cholera ;  and  what  can  sur 
pass  the  exploit  of  the  more  fortunate  Lieutenant  Maxse,  riding- 
through  a  tract  of  country  occupied  by  the  Russians,  to  carry  in  his 
own  breast  (for  writing  was  not  safe)  orders  from  Lord  Raglan  to 
the  fleet  ?     And  the  poet  has  mingled  his  breath  with  the  cannon's 
roar  and  the  last  pulsation  of  the  soldier's  heart :  a  soldier  from  the 
ranks  was  heard  by  one  near  him  on  the  battle-field,  to  utter  with 
his  last  breath — '  Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time ; '  the  soldier  was 
from  Brighton,  and  the  writer  of  the  account  did  not  know  the  words 
to  be  Longfellow's :   he  had  heard  them  quoted  in  a  sermon  of 
Robertson's. 


280  ADDRESS   TO    AMERICANS. 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  NICHOLAS. 

HE  fell  like  a  column  which,  firm  at  its  base, 

Was  unshaken  a  moment  before, 
No  vestige  of  crumbling  decay  mark'd  the  place 

Where  it  stood — the  wide  world  looking  o'er. 

'Twas  not  for  the  hand  of  a  mortal  to  dare 
The  red  bolt  of  vengeance  to  grasp; 

He  seiz'd  it  unshrinking — he  vow'd  not  to  spare, 
But  fatal  fire  burn'd  in  that  grasp. 

For  Power  is  a  Nemesis,  sent  to  destroy 
The  will  that  submits  not  to  law : 

Once  more  'tis  reveal'd!  Oh,  profane  not  with  joy 

What  nations  should  witness  with  awe  ! 
March,  1855. 


ADDRESS  TO  AMERICANS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

OX   THEIR   REPORTED    WANT   OF   SYMPATHY. 

'  AM  I  my  brother's  keeper  ? '  says  the  New  World  to  the  Old  ; 
It  cannot  be,  it  cannot  be !  your  hearts  have  grown  so  cold 
That  ye  can  hear,  without  one  pang,  the  dirge  across  the  wave 
For  England's  bravest  sons  who  find  on  Eastern  shores  a  grave. 

Has  every  drop  of  Saxon  blood  been  chased  from  out  your  veins? 
Are  not  our  ancient  glories  yours,  although  ye  scorned  our  chains? 
Ev'n  then  ye  proved  one  ancestry,  a  kindred  bond  of  yore, 
With  those  bold  men  of  Runnymede  who  Freedom's  charter  bore. 

Oh !  by  that  name — by  every  field  our  noble  fathers  won, 
Ere  yet  your  fearless  bark  of  faith  had  sought  the  Western  sun, 
Disown  not  now  the  common  cause— betray  it  not  to  might, 
Nor  dare  to  raise  a  neutral  flag  when  Wrong  contends  with  Right. 

A.  I.  N.  B. 


LETTER    XXIII. 


NEW  ORLEANS,  ) 
April,  6, 1855.  f 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

At  last  your  letters  dated  January  have  reached  me ;  pro 
bably  more  will  come  by  a  steamer  which  I  see  has  arrived  at 
Boston :  it  is  well  that  a  treble  or  a  double  set  did  not  come  at 

once.     Only  now  I  am  made  aware,  for  the  first  time,  of 's 

resignation  of  the  editorship  she  volunteered.  I  don't  think  I  should 
ever  have  thought  of  the  publication  if  she  had  not  proposed  it,  but 
I  could  not  write  to  her  what  I  did  not  see  or  think.  I  am  sorry,  and 
think  she  had  better  have  trusted  to  my  endeavour  to  tell  the  truth, 
which,  if  it  is  not  the  truth,  can  never  hurt  any  cause  :  but  the  subject 
in  question  is  too  serious  a  matter  to  be  blinked  for  the  sake  of  any  in 
dividual  friendship  or  individual  interest,  and  at  any  cost  I  must  sacri 
fice  the  opinions  and  impressions  of  friends  to  my  own  honest  convic 
tions.  I  might  hesitate  or  doubt,  if  I  trusted  only  or  wholly  to  my  own 
unaided  judgments  and  perceptions;  but  when  these  are  justified  by 
the  opinions  of  nearly  all  the  people  who  appear  to  me  in  other 
respects  the  best  and  wisest  on  this  side  the  Atlantic — for  though 
authority  may  not  be  much,  evidence  is  a  great  deal,  and  I  feel  sup 
ported  and  encouraged  by  a  hope  that  I  may  at  any  rate  do  some 
thing  to  counteract  the  evils  which  in  my  judgment  have  arisen  out 
of  mistaken  and  superficial  inquiries.  .  Northern  clergymen  in  Florida, 
13* 


282  TRANSATLANTIC    SYMPATHY. 

Scotch  ministers  in  the  North,  and  bishops  with  dioceses  each  as 
large  as  all  England ;  men  devoted  to  religion,  charity,  and  learning 
— self-sacrificers,  fearless,  incorruptible  ;  men  who  have  never  quailed 
or  hesitated  in  the  most  difficult  and  awful  paths  of  duty,  when 
cholera  lay  on  their  right  hand  and  yellow  fever  on  their  left; 
Bishops  of  Georgia  and  of  Louisiana — Elliott,  the  nurse,  the  con 
soler,  the  comforter — walking  calmly  about  among  the  pestilential 
corpses  of  thousands  of  his  fellow-citizens — can  such  a  man  as  this 
be  blinded  by  interest  or  prejudice  to  say  that  apparent  slavery  is  in 
most  cases  real  freedom  to  the  black  man,  and  a  severe  trial  of 
responsibility  only  to  the  white  ?  I  cannot  help  fearing  that  we 
have  been  running  a  tilt  against  civilization  and  the  best  interests  of 
religion,  whilst  in  our  ignorance  we  have  fancied  ourselves  the 
champions  of  Christendom  ?  Some  of  my  friends  in  the  North  say 
it  is  the  abolitionists  only  who  have  sympathised  with  England  during 
her  late  sorrows.  I  am  glad  they  have  felt  sympathy ;  but  I  find 
sympathy  also  among  the  people  we  have  ill-used  and  vilified,  and 
that  is  even  more  touching  and  precious  than  the  kindly  feeling  of 
those  whose  mistakes  we  have  petted  and  encouraged.  I  am  afraid 
what  I  am  writing  will  not  please  any  of  you,  but  do  not  fancy  I 
have  been  hood-winked  and  cheated  into  an  advocacy  of  Southern 
institutions,  when,  wholly  unknown  and  unsuspected,  I  have  seen 
with  my  own  eyes,  and  heard  with  my  own  ears.  Of  course  I  can 
not  write  half  the  evidence  I  have  collected ;  evils  I  do  not  deny ; 
and  where  are  they  not  to  be  found  ? 

It  is  now  as  cold  here  as  Christmas,  and  as  cold  as  November. 

Many  thanks  for  the  Multum  in  Parvo.     does  not  say  if  she 

undertakes  the  editorship  which  repudiates :  if  not,  it  must 

wait  till  I  get  back.     I  do  not  wish  to  wear  out  's  eyes  or 

patience,  but,  as  to  avoid  a  bad  return  for  the  hospitalities  shown 
me,  I  have  mentioned  here  the  intended  publication,  a  strong 
interest  in  the  matter  has  been  expressed,  and  I  am  assured  by  my 
American  friends  that  they  will  not  complain  of  my  abusing  them 
a  little,  because  they  believe  that  I  shall  not  do  so  spitefully,  which 
is  certainly  truo  ;  but  I  would  not '  marry  a  slaveholder,'  as 


NEGRO    CHARACTER. 


283 


recommends,  depend  upon  it,  if  I  could  ;  a  situation  which  involves 
such  a  trial  of  patience  and  philanthropy  would  be  quite  beyond 
me.  I  think  I  should  turn  savage  myself  if  I  was  bound  to  be 
served  for  the  rest  of  my  life  by  darkies;  only  their  childishness 
could  induce  me  to  Bear  with  them.  You  should  hear  R— 
trate  the  comforts  of  negro  servants!  and  in  my  private  opinion  no 
earthly  power  can  ever  wash  the  blackamoor  white,  morally  or 
physically ;  though  it  is  possible,  by  great  pains  and  perseverance, 
to  advance  them  to  piebaldism.  I  dare  say  I  provoke  you  by  re 
peating  the  same  things  over  and  over  again :  it  is  so  difficult  to 
remember  what  I  have  written. 

I  am  going  to  stay  for  a  while  with  the  brother  and  sister  of 
my  American  acquaintance  in  London :  her  gratitude  has  been  so 
unbounded  that  I  believe  it  is  that  which  has  made  me  popular 
in  the  United  States  ;  we  met  at  New  York,  and  I  hope  we  may 
meet  again  before  I  return  home.  I  think  of  staying  here  until 
the  weather  improves:  it  is  too  cold  to  think  of  stirring  yet;  but 
I  intend  by-and-bye  to  get  a  peep  at  Tennessee  and  the  Mammoth 
Cavern.  This  is  a  short  letter,  but  it  shall  go  by  the  next  post. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  XXIY. 


GALVESTON,  TEXAS,  U.  8.,         ) 
T,  1855.    f 


MY  DEAR  FRIENDS,  — 

I  ought  to  have  sent  my  last  packet  from  New  Orleans, 
instead  of  which,  owing  to  hurry,  I  have  brought  it  here,  from 
whence  I  ain  afraid  its  despatch  will  he  more  distant  and  less 
secure.  After  a  passage  of  thirty-six  hours  we  arrived  here  last 
night.  Although  the  weather  was  very  fine,  there  was  a  swell  of 
the  waves  which  made  the  majority  of  the  passengers  unhappy. 
R  -  says  she  was  worse  than  in  crossing  the  Atlantic.  I  was 
not  positively  ill,  but  rather  uncomfortable  yesterday  ;  and  as  I  hear 
of  a  mail  route  from  Austin,  the  capital  of  this  State,  via  Natchi- 
toches  and  the  Red  River,  I  mean  to  return  to  New  Orleans  that 
way  ;  we  shall  then  only  have  three  or  four  miles  of  a  river  steamer 
instead  of  the  sea-voyage.  But  it  has  only  been  by  falling  in  with 
a  gentleman  living  in  that  territory  that  I  have  ascertained  the 
possibility  of  a  land  journey.  I  was  told  even  by  Texas  residents 
at  New  Orleans  that  there  were  no  conveyances  ;  but  arrangements 
in  these  new  countries  are  so  rapid  that  circumstances  one  year  ago 
may  have  been  all  changed  in  the  last  few  months.  As  yet  I  have 
only  looked  out  of  the  window  of  the  Tremont  Hotel.  This  seems 
a  clean,  flat,  sandy  place  ;  the  houses  irregularly  built,  and  all  of 
plank,  but  comfortable-looking,  as  these  wooden  houses  are,  unless 


PARISIAN    PERRUQUIERS.  285 

they  are  set  on  a  blaze.  There  are  many  savage  tribes  to  the  north 
east  of  this  State,  but  the  theatre  of  the  present  war  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Indians  is  one  thousand  miles  off.  ^Beyond 
Austen  there  are  Comanches,  Pawnees,  Kesways,  Cherokees,  and 
Creeks,  and  towards  Missouri,  the  Osages ;  but  the  Choctaws,  which 
tribe  borders  upon  the  Red  River  and  the  settled  lands,  are  the 
gentlest  and  most  civilized  of  all  these  nations  ;  so,  while  the  other 
tribes  are  in  a  way  to  become  extinct,  the  Choctaws  keep  up  their 
numbers.  They  boast  that  they  have  never  embrued  their  hands  in 
the  blood  of  any  white  man.  They  have  comfortable  houses  and  a 
settled  polity — sheriffs,  &c.  &c. ;  and  there  is  an  idea  of  some  day 
admitting  them  as  a  State  into  the  Union.  I  saw  one  of  them 
attending  the  educational  convention  at  Washington  in  European 
dress,  and  looking  like  a  gentleman.  I  should  like  to  visit  that 
people.  On  board  the  Louisiana  I  conversed  with  a  military  man 
who  has  been  through  great  part  of  Florida.  From  him  I  learned 
that  the  river  which  runs  up  by  Appalachicola  is  for  some  distance 
like  a  gulf;  he  does  not  know  if  it  is  lost  in  the  swamps  by  Alli 
gator  Swamp  towards  the  Altamaha  and  Savannah  rivers,  but  that 
is  probably  the  case ;  and  after  seeing  the  narrow  channels  which 
divide  some  of  the  islands  south  of  Florida,  it  is  easy  to  believe  that 
it  also  was  once  separated  from  the  mainland. 

The  distance  from  hence  to  New  Orleans  by  sea  is  about  four 
hundred  miles.  Galveston  is  an  island.  I  have  just  returned  from 
a  drive  along  some  fine  sands  which  extend  for  miles  upon  the  flat 
shore,  where  there  must  be  excellent  bathing.  The  population  of 
the  town  appears  to  be  a  mixture  of  Germans,  Dutch,  French,  Eng 
lish,  and  Americans.  Almost  all  the  tradespeople  I  spoke  to  were 
of  the  first-mentioned  nation.  I  was  surprised  to  see  such  a  number 
of  hairdressers  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  place  :  there  are  three 
within  a  stone's-throw  of  our  hotel, — '  Hyppolite  and  Batiste,' 
from  Paris !  where  hair  is  *  instantly  dyed,'  and  wigs,  toupets,  and 
fronts  are  well  made,  &c.  &c.  Artificial  proceedings  for  outward 
adornment  which  are  now  little  practised  in  France  and  England, 
appear  to  have  emigrated  to  this  side  the  Atlantic. 


286  BAYOU    NAVIGATION. 

Washington,    Texas,   April,    19. — We   left   Galveston   in    the 
Houston  steamer  at  four  o'clock,  to  go  fifty  miles  up  the  bay,  and 
forty  miles  up  the  bayou,  to  Houston.     These  bayous  are  very  curi 
ous.     I  observed  one  of  them  at  New  Orleans,  but  not  having 
ascended  it  in  a  boat,  I  was  not  fully:aware  what  odd  sea-ditches  they 
are.     They  must  be  peculiar  to  this  coast — I  never  heard  of  them 
elsewhere — and  I   imagine   their   navigation  is    one  of  the   most 
singular  in  the  world.     It  was  a  bright  starlight  night  when  we 
ascended  that  which  leads  from  Galveston  Bay  inland.     Is  at  upon 
the  prow  of  the  vessel,  with  another  lady,  from  eight  o'clock  till 
midnight,  too  much  interested  to  think  of  either  fatigue  or  damp. 
Our  steamer,  near  two  hundred  feet  long,  was  navigated  the  whole 
way  through  a  channel  hardly  more  than  eighty  feet  wide,  though 
deep  enough  to  float  a  man-of-war.    Negroes  holding  braziers  of 
blazing  pine-wood  stood  on  each  side  the  vessel,  illuminating  our 
passage,  the  foliage  and  even  the  beautiful  flowers  so  near  that  we 
could  almost  gather  them  as  we  floated  by  ;  a  small  bell  was  ring 
ing  every  instant,  to  direct  our  engineers  ;  one  moment  the  larboard 
paddle,  then  the  starboard,  were  stopped  or  set  in  motion,  or  the 
wheels  were  altogether  standing  still,  while  we  swung  round  the 
narrow  corners  of  this  tortuous  channel ;  the  silence  of  the  border 
ing  forests  broken  alone  by  the  sobs  of  our  high-pressure  engine, 
which  is  less  expensive  in  construction,  and  enables  a  vessel  to  draw 
less  water  than  a  low-pressure.     Now  and  then  a  night  bird,  or  frog 
croaking  with  a  voice  like  that  of  a  watchman's  rattle,  accompanied  the 
bells  and  the  escape  valve.    But  human  voices  were  awed  into  silence 
during  our  solemn  progress,  which  seemed  to  me  to  belong  neither  to 
the  sea  nor  the  earth — it  was,  indeed,  a  kind  of  amphibious  proceeding. 
A.  downward  steamer  once  passed  us :  I  was  glad  we  did  not  meet 
at  one  of  the  narrowest  places,  for  there,  I  believe,  they  sometimes 
edge  by  one  another,  absolutely  touching  ;  but  this  navigation,  how 
ever  extraordinary,   is  considered  peculiarly  safe.      The   depth  of 
water  being  so  great  and  so  still,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how 
these  bayous  have  been  formed.     They  are  deep  trenches  running  up 
into  the  interior — Nature's  canals — no  streams  come  in  at  the  ter- 


ROUTE    TO    WASHINGTON.  287 

mination,  and  the  water  is  always  salt  or  brackish.  In  two  or  three 
hours  after  our  arrival  at  Houston,  we  were  obliged  to  get  into  the 
mail  for  this  place ;  so,  coming  in  the  dark  and  setting  out  before 
daylight,  I  know  little  of  Houston.  It  is  said  to  be  pretty,  but 
must  be  flat,  for  soon  after  leaving  it  we  entered  upon  prairies  which 
extended  for  fifty  miles :  fine  grass  and  beautiful  flowers,  fertile 
though  sandy  plains.  Once  or  twice,  when  we  stopped  to  water  the 
horses,  I  got  out  for  a  few  minutes,  and  while  the  rest  of  the  party 
dined  I  rushed  back  to  gather  what  I  could  ;  but  it  was  very  tanta 
lizing  to  me  to  pass  all  kinds  of  new  plants  without  being  able  to 
possess  myself  of  them.  In  the  few  opportunities  afforded  me,  I 
got  about  twenty  :  one  or  two  of  genera,  and  the  others  of  species, 
either  unknown  or  little  known  in  our  gardens. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  last  night  before  we  reached  Washington : 
the  driver  declared  we  must  start  again  at  three  this  morning,  so  I 
rebelled,  and  have  let  the  mail  proceed  to  Austen  without  us.  I  must 
give  up  that  capital,  however  picturesque  the  scenery  may  be,  and 
content  myself  with  visiting  General  Samuel  Houston,  at  Indepen 
dence,  twelve  miles  farther  than  this  place,  and  then  turn  back  to 
wards  the  Red  River.  It  is  useless  to  run  through  a  greater  extent 
of  country  without  pausing  long  enough  to  see  it ;  and  we  must  be 
back  at  New  Orleans  by  the  end  of  the  month.  The  route  here 
from  the  sea-shore  is  very  thinly  peopled — no  towns,  no  villages ; 
and  only  an  occasional  settlement  here  and  there,  mostly  Dutch. 
After  leaving  the  prairies  we  came  to  a  very  pretty  district,  resembling 
English  park  scenery;  fine  scattered  trees,  and  woods  with  the 
brightest  and  most  luxuriant  verdure  I  have  seen  in  America.  At 
times  the  oaks  and  the  sand  reminded  me  of  Kent ;  but  these  oaks 
are  not  the  same  species  as  ours,  yet  are  the  Texans  fine  trees.  The 
dwarf '  Black  Jack '  is  abundant  all  about.  We  passed  the  Brazo 
River  in  a  ferry-boat,  left,  for  the  convenience  of  the  public,  without 
a  ferry-man.  It  was  large  enough  to  admit  the  coach  and  four 
horses,  with  the  passengers,  who  got  out,  and  a  rope  guided  the 
whole  across  a  quiet  narrow  river.  During  our  passage  the  planet 
Venus  appeared  to  hang  like  a  diamond  upon  one  of  the  horns  of  a 


288  HORNED    FROGS. 

young  moon.  They  remained  for  a  while  in  close  proximity,  but  I 
do  not  believe  they  ever  quite  performed  an  eclipse.  I  think  the 
planet  appeared  for  some  time  in  conjunction,  hanging  like  a  diamond 
on  one  of  the  moon's  horns,  which  afterwards  passed  above,  or  Venus 
went  below,  whichever  it  might  be.  A  fancy  crossed  my  mind  that 
this  was  a  good  omen,  beautifully  emblematic  of  the  Star  of  Chris 
tianity,  touching  and  rising  over  the  Mahometan  Crescent ;  but  I 
was  obliged  to  get  into  the  carriage,  and  I  could  not  then  see  the 
finale ;  both  had  set  before  we  reached  Washington.  As  we  came 
along,  one  of  the  gentleman  passengers,  at  my  request,  caught  a 
singular  little  reptile  for  me,  which  is  here  called  the  horned  frog, 
but  it  has  a  tail,  and  is  not  more  like  a  frog  than  the  gelsemine  is 
like  jessamine.  I  shall  try  to  reconcile  it  to  live  and  become  my 
fellow-traveller. 

Since  I  wrote  the  above,  I  have  been  spending  two  days  at  a 
small  town  called  Independence,  and  there  a  boy  gave  me  another 
of  these  creatures,  which  will  be  a  companion  to  the  first ;  and  I 
hope  to  get  them  safely  to  England,  an  offering  to  Mr.  Owen.  Yes 
terday  they  both  eloped  from  a  tin  box  ;  so,  as  nothing  in  the  shape 
of  a  cage  could  be  procured,  I  went  to  a  store,  bought  a  large  metal 
sieve,  and  persuaded  a  carpenter  to  let  it  into  a  circular  piece  of 
wood,  grandly  enough  made  of  the  cedar,  which  is  used  for  common 
purposes  in  this  country  :  the  carpenter's  shop  was  perfumed  by  its 
shavings.  The  sieve,  with  the  sand  at  the  bottom,  is  an  airy  and 
pleasant  abode  for  my  prisoners  ;  and  I  can  watch  their  evolutions 
without  difficulty;  they  seem  gentle,  harmless  little  things,  and 
being  crustaceous,  and  not  slippery-feeling,  I  have  no  objection  to 
them.  Their  appearance  is  most  antediluvian,  with  their  fringes  and 
horns,  and  birdy-expression  of  countenance. 

I  spent  two  pleasant  days  at  Independence,  where  I  boarded 

R and  myself  in  the  clean,  though  simple  abode  of  a  Mr.  and 

Mrs.  Holmes  ;  he  is  building  a  house,  in  which  he  means  to  receive 
boarders  and  travellers.  In  the  meanwhile  (although  Mrs.  Holmes 
was  occupied  with  an  infant  only  a  fortnight  old)  he  gave  up  his  own 
parlour — a  canvas  and  boarded  room,  covered  by  a  nice  clean  mat, 


FOSSILIZED    FOREST.  289 

with  a  door  opening  at  once  upon  the  high  road ;  a  couch  for  my 
bed,  and  muslin  curtains — half  crimson,  half  white — across  the  win 
dows.  This  room  was  quite  free  from  the  odour  of  tobacco,  and 
very  neat. 

I  called  upon  Mrs.  Houston,  and  found  that  the  General  is  absent 
at  Huntsville ;  but  I  was  invited  to  take  tea,  and  I  spent  the  greater 
part  of  my  time  with  Mrs.  Houston  and  her  pleasant  family-party ; 
she  was  so  kind  as  to  lend  me  an  excellent  horse,  by  which  means  I 
saw  much  of  the  neighbourhood ;  and  this  morning  I  rode  twelve 
miles  across  the  Awah  River  and  swamp,  to  seek  for  a  fossilized  forest 
and  for  flowers.  A  gentleman  accompanied  me  who  was  an  excel 
lent  backwoodsman  and  guide.  We  crossed  the  swamp  and  river, 
which  would  have  been  impassable  during  a  less  dry  season ;  and 
before  long  we  saw  a  wolf,  and  a  singular  bird,  called  a  water-turkey  ; 
it  has  a  head  and  form  resembling  that  bird,  but  it  has  also  web 
feet,  and  such  a  power  of  remaining  under  water  that  it  will  dive  for 
ten  minutes  at  a  time.  We  soon  came  to  the  petrified  forest,  which 
is  said  to  be  ten  miles  in  extent.  I  found  fine  specimens  of  fossil- 
wood,  whole  trunks  of  trees,  and  large  branches.  The  weight  of  a 
bullock-wagon  passing  along  a  track,  had  crushed  one  of  these  fossil 
trees,  and  I  gathered  up  some  specimens.  All  these  stone  trunks  lie 
prostrate.  Further  on,  three  mocassin  snakes  lay  basking  upon  some 
mud  in  the  channel  of  a  small  river,  below  our  path ;  they  looked 
venomous,  though  inert ;  and  I  felt  glad  to  be  fairly  out  of  their  way. 
A  pretty  small  pair  of  deer's  horns  had  been  dropped  near  a  bush, 
and  I  persuaded  my  guide  to  pick  them  up,  but  he  having  no  great 
liking  for  unnecessary  trouble,  hung  them  upon  a  tree,  with  an  assu 
rance  that  we  must  pass  the  same  way  in  returning;  but  he  forgot 
this,  and  returned  a  mile  to  the  right,  so  I  lost  them  after  all.  Though 
the  weather  was  sultry,  and  our  ride  tiring  for  the  horses,  they  would 
not  touch  water  at  any  of  the  lesser  streams  we  crossed  because 

(Mr.   D said)  wild   beasts,   such  as  panthers,    wolves,   and 

bears,  had  drunk  there.  We  saw  the  tracks  of  such  animals,  but 
there  is  no  danger  of  meeting  them,  as  they  take  care  to  get  out  of 
your  way.  The  only  beings  who  crossed  our  path  during  this  long 


290  A    LONELY    SITUATION. 

ride  were  a  gentlemanly-looking  boy,  about  twelve  years  old,  accom 
panied  by  two  negroes,  all  on  horseback ;  they  were  seeking  horses 
which  had  strayed  in  the  forest.  We  went  as  far  as  some  ancient 
Indian  mounds ;  and  I  found  Phlox  Drummondi,  indigenous,  upon 
a  small  sandy  prairie  ;  in  colour  a  dark  ruby,  very  beautiful ;  each 
plant  was  a  samll  annual,  not  more  than  half  a  foot  high,  yet  I  con 
clude  it  is  the  original  of  all  ours.  We  got  back  safely  to  Independence 
by  three  o'clock,  having  been  on  horseback  since  five  in  the  morn 
ing,  but  I  had  been  too  well  amused  to  think  about  fatigue. 

Huntsville,  April  22. — This  is  a  pretty  scattered  town.     We  left 
Independence  yesterday  evening,  slept  at  Washington,  and  came  on 
in  the  mail  at  three  o'clock  this  morning.     The  Brazo  was  again  to 
be  crossed  in  a  ferry-boat.     A  mile  from  thence  one  of  the  horses 
became  ill,  but  after  lying  down  almost  immovable  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  he  got  up  and  went  twelve  miles  without  any  apparent  diffi 
culty.     About  half  way  we    met  General  Houston  on  horseback, 
attended    by  his  negro   groom.     Nearly  all  the   country  between 
Washington  and  this  place  is  fine  rich  prairie  land,  interspersed 
with  picturesque  oaks ;  it  resembles  Somersetshire,  Kent,  and  Wind 
sor  Forest  by  turns ;  the  grass  abundant,  and  beautifully  green.  We 
saw  some  deer;  and,  at  one  place  in  the  water  again,  two  of  those 
poisonous  mocassin  snakes ;  I  also  heard  of  bears  and  panthers,  and 
of  a  black  snake,  a  kind  of  boa,  ten  feet  long,  which  moves  with 
great  rapidity,  and  throws  itself  upon  deer  and  cattle,  and  has  been 
known  (though  rarely)  to  follow  and  attack  people.     We  reached 
this  place  just  before  sunset.     At  a  small  log-house,  in  a  lonely  situ 
ation,  a  ladylike  woman  and  her  child,  a  girl  about  ten  years  old, 
got  into  the  carriage.   We  were  surprised  to  learn  that,  in  the  absence 
of  her  son  of  seventeen,  for  college  attendance,  this  lady  lived  entire 
ly  alone  with  her  daughter ;  she  has  learned  to  fire  off  a  gun,  in 
case  of  emergency,  but  she  confesses  that  the  alarm  and  uneasiness 
consequent   upon  her  lonely  life  is  more  than  she  can  bear  much 
longer.     The  roads  here  are  by  no  means  bad  ;  we  had  a  very  com 
fortable   coach,  well-horsed   and  well-driven,  and  there  is  really  no 
difficulty  whatever,  except  fatigue,  in  traversing   this  part  of  the 
country. 


CROCKET.  291 

Crocket,  Texas,  April  24.— We  left  Huntsville  by  half-past  six 
yesterday  morning,  and  arrived  here  by   moonlight    early  in  the 
evening.     With  the  exception  of  scenery  at  Trinity  River  (which  we 
crossed,  as  usual,  in  a  large  ferry-boat),  the  drive  to-day    (through 
deep  sand,  and  in  swampy  places  upon  shifting  corduroy  roads)    was 
monotonous  and  uninteresting  :  we  had  three  companions  in  the  mail, 
rough-looking,  but  courteous,  well-informed  men ;  all  of  them  Texan 
agriculturists ;  one  had  served  in  Florida  in  the  Seminole  war,  and 
had  lived  much  among  the  Indians  :  another,  a  bright-looking  young 
man,  was  returning  to  his  farm  and  a  father  eighty  years  old,  after 
two  years'  wandering  upon  the  frontier  line  of  Mexico,  hunting   and 
shooting.    He  had  been  among  companions  who  could  not  persuade 
him  to  accompany  them  to  California ;  but  he  said  a  wild   life  had 
great  charms  for  him,  and  that  he  should  find  it  difficult  to  settle 
down  at  home.     He  thinks  Texas  the  finest  State  in  the  Union,  as 
it  is  the  largest  in  point  of  extent;  and  that  railroads  and  more 
people  are  all  it  wants.     We  passed  many  cotton  plantations  during 
our  journey  to-day,  and  large  numbers  of  cattle,  apparently  of  the 
Holderness  or  the  Durham  breed.     Dairies  are  little  thought  about ; 
it  is  cultivating  beef,  and  oxen  for  draught,  which  is  the  object,  not 
rnilk,  cream,  or  butter.     One  hardly  ever  sees  cream  in  America — 
never  in  this  State.     Upon  arriving  at  an  hotel,  or  rather  tavern,  in 
Texas,  one  is  shown  into  a  room  where   the  mistress  (usually  very 
young)  acknowledges  the  arrival  of  visitors,  and  offers  a  chair  ;  but 
it  would  be  quite  beneath  her  dignity  to  go  with  you  to  your  room, 
or  even  to  see  that  you  have  necessary  comforts  ;  she  '  wilHlesire  the 
servants  to  attend.'     After  a  while   a  negro  girl,  Or  perhaps  two  or 
three,  will  show  you  a  bed-chamber,  and  hang  about  to  watch  you 
and  your  packages ;  and  it  is  usually  necessary  to  scold  or  speak 
sharply  before  they  will  bestir  themselves  to  '  fix  the  chamber  ;'  and 
if  you  are  not  careful  to  put  your  things  out  of  the  reach  of  curiosity? 
a  bevy  will  assemble  as  soon  as  your  back  is  turned,  to  amuse  them 
selves  with  your  cap,  bonnet,  or  perhaps  your  combs  and  brushes. 
The  *  lady '  sits  at  the  head  of  the  table  at  tea  or  supper,  but  it  seems 
quite  an  offence  if  you  suppose  she  knows  anything  about  .the  bill, 


292  ALEXANDRIA. 

or  even  respecting  modes  of  travelling  or  distances :  to  any  such 
inquiries  she  will  say  that  '  You  must  ask  at  the  office,'  or '  Inquire 
of  Mr.  So-and-so — she  knows  nothing  of  such  things.'  So,  though 
the  blacks  make  good  servants  if  they  are  strictly  disciplined  and 
well  watched,  yet  at  these  hotels  they  are  careless  and  troublesome 
beyond  measure.  Twice  during  this  tour,  when  the  night  departure 
of  the  mails  allowed  passengers  but  an  hour  or  two  of  rest,  I  was 
just  asleep,  when  a  black  woman  would  come  screaming  at  the  doors 
waking  me,  saying  she  wanted  to  corne  in  to  '  find  the  blacking-brush 
which  is  left  under  your  bed,  missus,'  or  to  '  look  for  a  quilt,'  prob 
ably  to  use  as  a  table-cloth,  or  it  may  be  only  an  excuse  to  gain 
entrance.  I  positively  refuse  to  let  them  in,  but  then  I  am  complete 
ly  aroused,  and  there  is  small  chance  of  sleep  afterwards. 

April  27. — On  board  the  Rapid  steamer,  Red  River,  Alexan 
dria. — After  our  long  fatiguing  journey,  we  are  fortunate  in  getting 
accommodation  in  this  comfortable  steamer,  which  will  take  us  down 
the  Red  River  to  the  Mississippi,  and  so  back  to  New  Orleans. 

Alexandria,  Monday  morning. — I  go  back  to  say  that  we  arrived 
at  this  place  by  moonlight,  after  four  days  and  nights'  hard  travelling, 
but  in  coaches  so  good  and  so  well  appointed  that,  although  the  roads 
were  very  rough  and  dusty,  we  had  no  cause  to  be  frightened,  except 
in  passing  the  loose  plank  bridges,  most  of  them  with  no  pretence  of 
a  rail  to  prevent  vehicles  and  horses  from  going  over  the  sides ;  but 
we  were  assured  that  accidents  are  of  rare  occurrence,  and  these 
coaches  have  such  fine  horses,  and  such  admirable  drivers,  that  I 
never  travelled  at  night  with  such  confidence  as  through  the  wild 
forests  and  natural  roads  of  Texas.  As  yet  there  is  no  other  road- 
making  than  cutting  down  trees  actually  in  the  way,  the  stumps  of 
which  are  often  left  a  foot  high,  to  be  shunned  by  the  driver  and 
horses,  who  learn  from  experience  how  to  avoid  them  even  in  the 
dark. 

After  Crocket,  we  left  the  more  open  country ;  but  all  the  way 
to  Huntsville  the  soil  is  a  red  sand,  with  rolling  hills  covered  by  rich 
forests,  but  the  timber  is  not  so  thickly  set  as  to  be  drawn  up  with 
out  leaves  or  branches ;  and  we  only  occasionally  passed  through  a 


SNAKES.  293 

pine  barren.  Natchitoches  is  a  very  pretty  town  :  the  houses  with 
nice  gardens,  and  the  drive  through  open  woods,  containing  a  great 
variety  of  trees,  for  some  miles  along  a  raised  terrace,  from  which 
one  sees  a  fine  hilly  country  in  every  direction,  is  very  interesting,  un 
til  you  come  to  that  which  my  fellow-travellers  informed  me  was  the 
most  beautiful  twenty  miles  of  all,  and  then  I  was  rather  disappointed 
to  find  that  its  beauty  consisted  only  in  rich  land,  and  fertile  cotton, 
sugar,  and  maize  fields. 

Upon  reaching  a  bayou  which  falls  into  the  Red  River,  we  drove 
along  the  shore  of  its  muddy  slow  stream — at  present  so  low  from 
the  long  drought,  that  it  is  like  a  great  ugly  ditch,  with  snake  fences 
and  acres  of  red  flat  fields  on  our  left.  I  thought  of  the  American 
who  considered  Salisbury  Plain  the  most  lovely  district  in  England. 
Part  of  the  former  picturesque  tract  is  dotted  by  cotton  plantations 
and  comfortable -looking  abodes.  We  saw  occasionally  gangs  of 
people  at  work  in  the  fields,  under  a  driver,  but  all  seemed  contented 
and  merry.  I  pitied  the  overseer,  who  sat  idle  upon  his  horse,  and 
thought  I  should  prefer  being  one  of  the  labourers.  The  black  wo 
men  generally  dislike  being  taken  as  house-servants ;  they  prefer  the 
work  and  the  more  general  society  of  the  fields.  We  saw  two  mocas 
sin  snakes  in  the  water — one  large  snake,  which  is  only  accused  of 
eating  up  chickens,  and  another  big  enough  to  be  a  boa. 

Several  rivers  were  crossed  during  the  day  :  Angelina,  Black 
River,  and  Bayou  Sabine.  This  would  be  a  very  favourable  path  for 
emigrants  into  Texas,  as  a  hilly  country  is  less  liable  to  fevers,  and  the 
people  would  be  more  easily  acclimated.  A  Mr.  Hall,  at  New  Or 
leans,  is  spoken  of  as  an  excellent  adviser  for  new  settlers.  Such  ad 
venturers  should  arrive  before  December,  come  straight  up  the  Red 
River  from  the  Mississippi  as  far  as  Alexandria,  from  whence  they 
would  easily  reach  a  favourable  locality.  A  party  of  thirty  emigrants, 
who  could  purchase  about  three  hundred  acres  of  ready  cleared  land 
for  about  60/.,  and  divide  it  among  them,  would  have  a  much 
better  chance  of  immediate  comfort  and  prosperity  than  any  one  in 
dividual  taking  the  whole  quantity  ;  and  if  there  is  a  carpenter 
among  them,  he  would  be  the  most  successful  of  all.  I  should  much 


294  BIRDS    AND    SNAKES. 

prefer  settling  in  Texas  to  any  other  part  of  the  Union  I  have  seen, 
unless  it  was  the  Highlands  of  Virginia.  There  is  certainly  more 
chance  of  fevers  in  the  South ;  but  if  people  come  in  the  early  part  of 
the  winter,  and  are  not  imprudent,  they  will  be  tolerably  safe.  Game 
abounds  here,  and  fish  in  all  the  streams. 

I  have  at  last  ascertained  what  is  meant  by  the  Chinquapin — a 
nut  which  has  been  frequently  mentioned,  but  till  now  I  could  never 
fit  any  tree  to  the  name.  It  looks  like  a  chestnut  of  a  small  delicate 
kind.  I  have  discovered  that  it  is  the  Castanea  pumila.  In  a  rich 
prairie,  some  miles  beyond  Independence,  beyond  the  district  called 
Atewa,  I  found  a  beautiful  Phlox,  of  a  rich  velvety  crimson.  It  may 
be  that  one  described  in  Darby's  Botany  of  the  Southern  States  as 
'  Pilosa,'  or  the  original  Drummondi,  but  I  should  call  it  crimson, 
not  purple.  It  appears  to  be  confined  to  the  locality  above  named. 
I  have  not  seen  or  heard  of  it  anywhere  else.  A  few  miles  south  of 
Independence  a  beautiful  bright  sky-blue  Ixia-looking  flower,  unlike 
any  Sisyrinchium  I  ever  saw,  though  I  think  it  must  be  one.  Texas 
can  hardly  yet  have  been  thoroughly  botanized,  so  that  it  is  not  im 
possible  for  me  to  fall  in  with  new  plants.  I  brought  the  two  little 
Crustaceans  on  my  lap  all  the  way  from  Washington.  They  appear 
in  good  health,  and  tolerably  well  content  with  their  sieve.  I  think  that 
they  must  be  examples  in  the  reptile  creation  (as  the  family  of  Alli 
gator  Gars  are  among  the  fishes)  of  forms  which  are  generally  by 
gone.  They  occasionally  accept  a  fly  as  food,  and  I  am  told  they 
will  eat  ants  and  ant-eggs,  but,  like  tortoises,  they  seem  very  indepen 
dent  of  meals,  and  quite  as  well  content  without  as  with  them.  Fear 
does  not  appear  to  seem  a  trait  in  their  character.  They  do  not  try 
to  escape  from  my  hands,  or  to  suffer  from  being  taken  hold  of. 
Their  little  horns  and  bony  excrescences  are,  I  suppose,  considered 
sufficient  defence.  They  are  the  gentlest  and  least  aggressive  crea 
tures  I  ever  met  with. 

We  are  hospitably  sheltered  on  board  the  Rapid,  but  she  has 
engagements  which  will  detain  her  here  till  to-morrow  morning,  so 
I  must  be  content  in  the  meanwhile  to  make  acquaintance  with 
mocking-birds,  '  whip-poor-wills,'  alligators  and  fireflies,  all  of  which 


RED    RIVER.  295 

abound  on  the  Red  River  ;  and  I  have  also  found  one  or  two  more 
flowers  new  to  me,  by  walking  on  shore  this  afternoon.  On  the 
shore,  too,  I  saw  trails  of  snakes  across  a  sandy  path.  One  must 
have  been  very  large ;  but  as  we  kept  the  road  we  were  not  afraid, 
for  these  reptiles  generally  get  out  of  the  way  of  intruders. 

April  28. — We  began  moving  down  the  Red  River,  towards 
the  Mississippi.  The  two  days  before,  our  steamer  was  occupied 
taking  in  freight — cotton,  sugar,  and  molasses — and  a  large  por 
tion  was  put  into  a  barge  attached  to  the  Rapid,  to  prevent 
her  drawing  too  much  water  in  passing  a  shallow.  When  that 
was  accomplished,  the  additional  cargo  was  shipped,  and  the 
barge  left  behind.  Alligators  were  plentiful  along  the  shore  to-day ; 
pretty  white  cranes  and  occasional  water-turkeys  accompanied  our 
passage.  A  gentleman  on  board  described  a  bird  he  had  shot  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Red  River,  which  must  resemble  the  Apteryx 
from  Australia,  to  be  seen  in  the  Regent's  Park  Zoological  Gardens, 
except  that  it  is  smaller. 

Before  the  junction  with  the  Mississippi,  the  Red  River  opens 
out  into  what  is  called  Old  River,  because  it  is  believed  to  be  an 
ancient  bed  of  the  Mississippi.  We  have  now  got  into  the  main 
channel  of  the  latter  stream ;  but  its  shores  have  not  yet  become 
flat  and  uninteresting,  for  we  are  still  in  the  rolling  country  of  red 
sand,  from  which  the  Red  River  derives  its  appellation  and  muddy 
complexion. 

April  30. — Just  arrived  by  five  o'clock  at  New  Orleans,  after  a 
quiet  and  pleasant  voyage.  Nothing  remarkable  yesterday,  except 
the  town  of  Baton  Rouge,  which  is  prettily  situated  on  the  banks  of 
the  river.  It  boasts  of  the  State-house  and  a  fort,  and  is  considered 
the  capital  of  Louisiana.  I  observe  that  the  local  governments  gen 
erally  hold  their  sittings  at  those  places  which  in  point  of  size  are 
third-rate.  There  is  a  certain  jealousy  of  the  influence  of  large 
cities,  which  prevents  them  from  being  selected  for  legislative  meet 
ings.  The  Mississippi  banks  are  much  prettier  about  a  hundred 
miles  above  New  Orleans,  where  the  chalky  formation,  which  follows 
the  alluvial,  and  precedes  the  red  sandstone  rocks  in  all  the  Southern 


296  SCARCITY    OF    WORKMEN. 

States  and  in  Cuba,  begins  to  rise  above  flat  plantations  of  cotton, 
maize,  and  sugar. 

After  leaving  the  Red  Banks,  I  saw  no  more  alligators,  though 
I  believe  they  are  occasionally  to  be  found  below.     We  have  been 
fortunate  in  a  bright  moon,  which  has  almost  turned  night  into  day. 
I  have  seen  no  fossils  either  before  or  after  the  red  sand  in  Texas  or 
Louisiana,  but  I  daresay  there  may  be  some,  as  I  have  before  found 
plenty  of  nummulities,  echini,  pectens,  &c.      I  suppose  all  these 
formations  are  what  the  geologists  call  Eocene.     I  should  like  to 
speak  of  new  chalk  as  distinguished  from  old  chalk,  for  it  seems 
pretty  clear  that  they  are  made  much  after  the  same  fashion,  only 
the  chalk  of  England  is  an  elder  brother,  and  has  black  flints  and 
different  fossils  from  the  younger  one,  whose  flints  are  brown ;  but 
I  suppose  this  proposition  is  very  ungeological.     A  gentleman  here 
has  given  me  specimens  found  in  sinking  the  Artesian  well  in  New 
Orleans ;  and  though  it  has  been  sunk  nearly  two  hundred  feet,  still 
it  produces  only  sea-sand,  and  broken  or  unbroken  shells.     The 
Mississippi  appears  to  have  travelled  about  a  good  deal  in  his  time, 
and  I  should  not  wonder  if  some  day  he  should  take  a  fancy  to  join 
Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  perhaps  he  may  move  across  the  city  of 
New  Orleans.     I  have  seldom  time  to  read  over  what  I  write,  an<^ 
therefore  my  letters  may  contain  repetitions ;  if  so,  you  must  excuse 
them.     All  I  saw  of  Slavery  in  Texas  confirms  previous  conclusions. 
Workmen  are  so  much  wanted  in  that  fine  country,  that  it  would 
seem  impossible  to  abolish  slave-labour,  at  any  rate  for  many  years 
to  come :  perhaps  some  Africans  might  be  benefited  and  improved 
by  being  brought  there.     The  old  settled  States  are  naturally  un 
willing  to  be  troubled  with  fresh  importations ;  but  I  think  Texan 
agriculturists  might  be  willing  to  take  charge  of  them.     It  seems  to 
me  that  kind  and  good  people  I  have  known  do  not  yet  understand 
the  real  bearings  of  this  Slavery  question.     I  daresay  in  former  times 
there  were  more  abuses  than  at  present :  it  is  the  slaveholders  who 
come  from  the  North  who  prove  the  least  patient  and  most  severe 
masters;  so  I  suppose  abolitionists  judge  by  what  they  know  of 
them :  of  course  there  are  much  stronger  ties  of  affection  between 


LETTER    ON    SLAVERY.  297 

masters  and  servants  who  have  been  born  and  bred  together,  than 
between  those  whose  immediate  tie  has  been  only  a  pecuniary  one. 
I  must  copy  a  letter  which  has  been  lent  to  me  by  a  gentleman  here, 
in  answer  to  some  inquiries  addressed  to  sisters  by  cousins  in  London, 
after  the  perusal  of  Mrs.  Stowe's  novel. 

It  is  well  written,  and  embodies  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  the 
great  mass  of  masters  and  mistresses  in  the  Slave  States  of  America. 

1  MY  DEAR  COUSINS, — 

'  We  render  justice  to  the  benevolent  and  philanthropic  no 
tions  which  have  led  you  to  write  to  us  in  deprecation  of  Slavery ; 
and  though  our  lot,  like  the  Patriarchs  of  old,  is  cast  in  a  land  of 
bond  and  free,  we  believe  we  may  venture  to  assure  you,  that  our 
human  feelings  and  Christian  sympathies  have  not  been  weakened 
or  put  aside.  We  must,  however,  express  our  surprise  that  you,  and 
your  sober-minded,  cool-judging  country  people,  should  have  allowed 
yourselves  to  have  been  so  much  excited  by  a  work  of  fiction,  how 
ever  skilfully  wrought  out,  and  that  you  should  have  been  led  to  re 
gard  it  as  a  true  picture  of  negro  life  in  America.  We  have  never 
either  seen  or  heard  of  any  such  scenes  as  are  depicted  in  the  ro 
mance  you  refer  to.  How  can  we  believe  that  such  black  saints  and 
white  demons  have  ever  had  existence,  except  in  the  excited  imagi 
nation  of  the  authoress  of  Uncle  Tom  ?  Slave-trading  and  slave- 
dealers  are  regarded  with  as  much  disgust  here  as  with  you,  and  as 
to  the  rupture  of  the  marriage  tie,  to  which  you  allude,  it  is  the  re 
sult  (when  it  occasionally  happens)  of  misfortune  to  the  owner,  or  of 
crime  in  the  slave ;  and  in  your  country,  separations  of  families  are 
caused  in  a  similar  way.  It  is  the  exception,  not  the  rule.  We  have 
read  of  such  things  in  England,  as  men  selling  their  wives  in  a  public 
market,  with  halters  about  their  necks ;  but  surely  it  would  not  be 
just  to  charge  such  revolting  practices  upon  the  English  nation.  So 
far  as  we  have  had  an  opportunity  of  judging,  there  is  much  less, 
rather  than  more,  misery  and  distress  among  our  slaves  than  among 
your  labourers :  they  are  generally  well-treated,  happy,  and  content ; 
14 


298  LETTER    ON    SLAVERY. 

and  certainly  self-interest,  if  no  other  motive,  must  induce  their  own 
ers  to  treat  them  well.  Eeligion  is  cultivated  among  them,  and  in 
our  Sunday-schools  classes  of  black  children  under  a  white  teacher 
are  common.  In  fact,  one  of  us  offered  once  to  take  such  a  class ; 
but  the  superintendent  deemed  her  services  more  useful  to  the  class 
she  then  had  under  instruction.  Indeed,  our  sympathies  are  much 
more  frequently  and  painfully  excited  by  the  misery  we  witness 
among  the  poor,  ignorant,  destitute  emigrants  who  come  to  our 
shores  from  Europe;  many  of  them  (it  is  said)  shipped  off  by  Union 
"Workhouses  to  avoid  the  expense  of  their  maintenance. 

'  You  must  bear  in  mind,  dear  Cousins,  that  this  Institution  of 
Slavery  was  left  to  us  by  our  fathers,  and  that  England  introduced 
it.  One  of  the  grievances  charged  upon  her  in  the  first  Draft  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  this  very  institution  ;  and  Great 
Britain  only  followed  (after  many  years)  the  early  act  of  our  Govern 
ment  prohibiting  the  Slave-trade.  At  the  period  of  the  Revolution, 
Slavery  prevailed  in  nearly  all  the  States  of  the  Union :  in  a  few 
years  it  was  abolished  by  seven  of  them,  and  but  for  the  ill-judged 
agitation  of  the  North,  it  would  ere  this  have  been  done  away  with 
in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  Kentucky ;  and  in  view  of  these  facts 
may  not  the  subject  of  emancipation  be  safely  trusted  to  the  moral 
feelings  and  intelligence  of  those  whose  business  and  duty  it  is  to 
deal  with  it  ?  The  evil  (if  evil  it  is)  is  so  engrafted  upon  our  social 
system,  that  to  get  rid  of  it  without  producing  greater  evil,  which 
would  affect  the  servant  even  more  than  the  master,  the  cure  must 
be  worked  out  cautiously  and  gradually. 

'  Emancipation  is  not  always  a  boon,  even  to  the  robust  and  able 
slave ;  but  it  would  be  a  curse  to  the  aged  and  infirm,  and  to  the 
helpless  children.  At  the  cost  of  twenty  millions  sterling  you  have 
brought  ruin  and  ultimate  desolation  upon  your  "West  Indian 
Colonies :  they  stand  as  a  warning  rather  than  an  example  to  our 
country.  We  are  under  the  guidance  and  protection  of  Divine 
Providence  ;  and  the  way  in  which,  by  his  infinite  power  and  good 
ness,  great  ends  are  attained,  is  generally  beyond  our  finite  compre- 


FIREFLIES.  299 

hension ; — for  ourselves,  we  are  willing  to  believe  that  this  apparent 
evil  of  Slavery  is  a  means  conducive  to  a  great  and  merciful  end. 
Compare  the  Christianized  and  civilized  American  negro,  with  the 
brutal,  idolatrous,  polygainist  African  nations,  and  you  will  find  the 
former  advanced  far  above  the  latter  in  the  scale  of  humanity. 

*  Our  countrymen  are  civilizing  and  Christianizing  three  or  four 
millions  of  negroes,  who  will  eventually  return  to  Africa  to  civilize  and 
Christianize  the  whole  negro  race.  Is  not  this  a  great  and  good  re 
sult,  and  will  not  the  end  sanctify  the  means  ? ' 

The  letter  further  dwells  upon  the  mischief  which  is  done  by  an 
ill-judging  interference,  and  concludes  by  reminding  us  that  we  have 
social  evils  of  our  own  to  attend  to  and  to  cure. 

New  Orleans,  May  1. — I  returned  here  to  breakfast  yesterday  ; 

and. in  the  evening  Mr.  and  Mrs.  G took  me  too  see  the  garden 

belonging  to  a  railroad  station  at  six  miles'  distance.  There  I  saw 
a  very  pretty  Peruvian  shrub,  with  lilac  flowers,  which  the  Irish 
gardener  called  '  Darbyana  integrifolia.'  I  cannot  say  if  the  name 
is  a  legitimate  one,  because  he  appeared  very  hap-hazard  in  his 
nomenclature ;  and  as  there  are  few  people  to  interfere  with  it,  I 
suspect  he  sometimes  invents  an  appellation  when  he  is  doubtful 
about  one.  Roses,  Oleanders,  and  Honeysuckles  bloom  here  with 
a  brilliancy  and  in  an  abundance  beyond  anything  I  ever  beheld  in 
Europe ;  and  last  night  the  fireflies,  sparkling  in  every  direction  as 
we  returned  home,  were  very  pretty.  They  are  brighter  than  our 
glow-worm  ;  but  as  their  wings  are  opaque,  they  shine  only  in  fly 
ing,  and  their  flights  are  so  transient,  that  they  appear  and  vanish 
just  like  sparks,  but  the  light  resembles  the  light  from  diamonds 
rather  than  sparks  of  fire.  I  am  told  they  are  still  more  numerous 
after  rain  ;  but  the  mosquitoes  increase  also — therefore  I  should  not 
wish  to  double  the  number  of  either. 

There  have  been  some  serious  burglaries  and  robberies  lately  in 
New  Orleans.  A  black  man  entered  a  house  not  far  from  this  a  few 
nights  ago ;  being  disturbed,  he  attempted  to  leap  from  the  window ; 
a  gentleman  within  seized  his  hand,  and  tried  to  detain  him  in  a 


300  EFFECTS  OF  THE  DROUGHT. 

hanging  position,  until  assistance  came.  With  the  arm  left  at  liber 
ty,  the  robber  drew  out  a  revolver  and  shot  his  captor,  who  was 
obliged  to  let  him  go.  The  wounded  man  is  recovering,  but  a  bullet 
in  his  face  is  yet  tin  extracted. 

Although  this  robber  was  a  black  man,  the  police  in  England 
and  France  being  now  so  well  organized,  it  is  believed  that  many 
of  the  more  desperate  characters  have  taken  refuge  in  the  United 
States ;  either  this,  or  the  want  of  a  strong  detective  force  has  caused 
a  great  increase  of  criminal  acts  in  America. 

On  Thursday,  the  4th,  I  propose  to  leave  this  place  for  Mobile  ; 
then  to  proceed,  via  the  Tensaw  River,  by  Montgomery  and  Atlanta, 
to  see  the  Stone  Mountain  of  Georgia,  and  Chatanooga,  in  my  way 
to  Nashville  and  the  Mammoth  Cave. 

Great  anxiety  is  expressed  here  for  rain ;  the  drought  has  now 
been  of  long  continuance,  for  the  single  day's  rain  which  accom 
panied  a  thunderstorm  on  the  4th  seems  to  have  been  very  partial, 
and  almost  confined  to  New  Orleans.  The  cotton  growers  begin  to 
despair,  and  all  the  crops  are  suffering  so  much,  that  a  famine  is  pre 
dicted  if  relief  does  not  come  soon ;  and,  as  the  houses  here  look  to 
their  great  tuns  or  cisterns  of  rainwater  for  their  principal  supply, 
the  absence  of  wet  weather  is  a  great  distress  to  New  Orleans ;  be 
sides  which,  steamers  also  are  delayed  or  stopped  by  want  of  water 
in  rivers  tributary  to  the  Mississippi. 

May  2. — There  was  a  total  eclipse  of  the  moon  last  night,  finer 
than  anything  of  the  kind  I  ever  saw  before.  The  obscuration 
began  from  the  southern  limb  soon  after  eight  oclock,  and  the  moon 
was  not  bright  again  till  midnight ;  for  one  hour  and  forty-eight 
minutes  she  looked  like  a  dark  orange,  much  smaller  than  usual ; 
but  she  was  visible  throughout,  except  after  she  began  to  brighten  up 
again,  when  a  few  clouds  passed  over,  and  rendered  her  invisible  for 
a  short  time.  The  wise  and  anxious  hope  for  rain  after  this  event. 
My  horned  frogs  (for  so  I  must  call  them  till  a  better  name  is  pro 
vided)  excite  great  interest ;  although  they  are  not  entirely  unknown 
to  people  kere,  nobody  can  say  whether  any  living  specimens  have 
been  sent  to  England.  I  wished  to  show  them  to  Dr.  Riddell,  but 


A    SHOWER    OF    RAIN.  301 

he  is  gone  up  to  Chatawa  with  his  family,  and  he  is  not  likely  to 
return  till  after  my  departure.  A  heavy  shower  of  rain  has  fallen 
this  afternoon,  and  it  is  hoped  that  more  will  follow.  An  opportu 
nity  occurring,  I  shall  close  this  letter,  and  probably  not  forward  an 
other  packet  till  I  reach  Cincinnati  or  Indianopolis. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTER  XXV. 


ATLANTA,  ALABAMA,  U.  S.,  > 
.a/ay  7, 1S55.  ( 

Mr  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

After  five  days'  hard  travelling,  we  got  here  this  evening — I 
should  say  five  days  and  three  nights ;  for  with  the  exception  of  one 
night's  rest  at  Mobile,  and  one  (till  five  this  morning)  at  Mont 
gomery,  since  leaving  New  Orleans,  on  Thursday  last,  we  have  never 
paused  an  hour  anywhere.  Night- work  is  the  only  serious  obstacle 
to  journeying  in  America :  it  is  very  fatiguing,  and  where  there  is  a 
pretty  country  to  pass  through,  very  disappointing  to  strangers  ;  both 
in  Texas  and  Alabama  this  evil  at  present  is  incorrigible ;  because, 
through  wide  districts,  there  are  no  places  to  pause  at,  and  the  mail 
being  the  only  means  of  conveyance,  of  course  it  cannot  be  detained 
for  any  one.  I  might  have  attempted  to  get  up  the  Alabama  River 
from  Mobile,  but  the  water  being  low,  there  was  considerable  risk  of 
grounding  for  some  days  upon  sandbanks ;  besides  which,  I  see 
more  of  the  country  and  of  the  vegetation  by  coach-travelling ;  and 
although  it  is  often  very  tantalizing  to  pass  by  trees,  and  shrubs,  and 
flowers,  either  new  or  rare,  without  being  able  to  get  at  them,  still 
it  is  something  to  observe  the  botanical  features  of  a  district ;  and 
by  taking  every  opportunity,  during  a  change  of  horses  or  a  stop  for 
meals,  I  have  secured  several  interesting  specimens,  and  sometimes 
get  a  sketch.  From  New  Orleans  a  steamer  brought  us  in  about 


STREET    ARCHITECTURE.  303 

fourteen  hours  to  Mobile :  that  town  is  prettily  situated  along  the 
bay ;  it  seems  a  pleasant  place  of  residence,  with  a  hotel  (Battle 
House),  the  best  managed  I  have  met  with  in  the  United  States ; 
for  usually,  with  a  great  deal  of  show,  these  places  are  conducted 
upon  so  little  system,  and  with  so  little  real  comfort,  that  I  much 
prefer  European  inns  to  the  most  gorgeous  American  hotels ;  and  in 
point  of  expense,  the  latter  equal,  if  they  do  not  exceed,  the  former. 
Government-street  in  Mobile  is  also  the  handsomest  street  I  have 
seen  anywhere :  it  consists  of  detached  houses  with  gardens ;  some 
have  the  usual  fault  in  this  country  of  being  whitened  to  a  dazzling 
and  unnatural  whiteness  ;  but  a  custom-house  is  in  process  of  erec 
tion,  with  granite  of  a  soft  grey  colour,  and  it  seems  likely  to  be  an 
example  of  good  architecture,  as  well  as  of  pleasing  tint.  An  agree 
able  family  (to  whom  I  was  introduced  by  my  friend  Mr.  "W  ''  '  V 
of  Baltimore)  made  me  profit  as  much  as  possible  by  the  few  hours 
I  was  able  to  stay  at  Mobile :  they  chose  a  pretty  drive,  and  I  was 
enabled  to  visit  the  first  interesting  nursery-garden  I  have  met  with ; 
there  I  saw  Cactus  triangulans,  with  hanging  roots.  I  was  told  that 
a  gentleman  at  Cincinnati  had  the  best  collection  of  cacti.*  Next 
day,  Saturday,  a  steamer  received  us  on  board,  and  leaving  Mobile 
Bay,  we  went  up  the  river  Tensaw,  a  stream  beautiful  as  the  Alta- 
maha,  and  bordered  by  woods  far  exceeding  those  of  Georgia :  live 
oaks,  catalpas,  magnolias  (as  large  as  elms),  just  come  into  blow ; 
the  macrophyllea  with  its  flower  still  sweeter  and  more  splendid  than 
the  grandiflora,  rnelios,  gleditzios,  cedars,  sweet  and  black  gum-trees, 
&c.,  with  huge  alligators  occasionally  basking  beneath  these  verdant 
shores,  and  elegant  birds  flying  above  them. 

At  Stockport  we  found  two  roomy  four-horse  coaches  waiting  for 
passengers :  five  gentlemen,  R ,  and  I  took  possession  of  one  in 
tended  to  hold  nine  inside,  which  would  have  been  close  packing ; 
so  we  were  fortunate  in  not  being  quite  as  much  cramped  as  we 
might  have  been.  Nearly  the  whole  two  hundred  miles  to  this  place 
is  deep  sand,  varying  from  white  to  red ;  at  first,  through  pine  bar- 

*  Since  destroyed  by  fire. 


304  MONTGOMERY. 

rens  like  those  of  Florida,  only  covering  a  rolling  country  instead  of 
a  flat  one ;  but  within  fifty  miles  of  Montgomery  the  forest  becomes 
as  various,  and  as  rich,  and  as  hilly,  as  that  of  the  eastern  part  of 
Texas,  and  much  resembling  it  in  character  and  in  soil — a  red  iron- 
sand.  At  one  of  the  little  post-houses  I  got  a  nodule  of  iron  ore, 
which  they  said  was  plentiful  in  the  neighbourhood.  By  midnight 
we  arrived  at  Montgomery,  a  clean-looking,  gas-lit  town,  of  which  I 
could  not  see  a  great  deal,  for  it  was  necessary  to  be  in  the  railroad  cars 
by  six  the  next  morning.  A  short  distance  from  Montgomery  the  line 
was  bordered  on  each  side  by  hedges  of  Cherokee  roses,  vivid  ever 
greens  with  single  white  blossoms,  and  the  foliage  so  thick  that  it  is 
said  not  even  a  snake  can  get  through  it :  then  we  went  by  the 
prettiest  scenery  of  all — passing  the  rivers  Coosa  and  Tallapoosa,  and 
near  the  spot  where  General  Jackson  fought  his  'Battle  of  the 
Horseshoe'  with  the  Cherokees  and  Choctaws.  One  of  my  poor 
little  horny,  crusty  reptiles  is  dead,  in  spite  of  all  the  care  I  could 
bestow  upon  him.  I  fear  the  other  will  not  survive  the  long  journey 
in  prospect ;  perhaps  it  would  be  better  that  these  creatures  should 
travel  at  the  usual  season  of  their  torpidity ;  now,  the  sun  makes 
them  too  much  inclined  for  an  active  life,  and  they  evidently  think 
it  necessary  to  eat  flies,  whereas,  in  the  winter  season,  that  would 
not  be  requisite. 

To-morrow,  I  am  going  some  miles  out  of  my  route  to  see  what 
is  called  the  Stone  Mountain  of  Georgia.  Atlanta  (so  spelled  here) 
is  a  town  about  eight  years  old,  though  there  was  a  settlement  and 
two  or  three  houses  as  much  as  fifteen  years  ago.  During  my  last 
passage  in  the  steamer  from  Mobile,  a  black  woman  came  and  sat 
down  by  me  in  the  stern  of  the  vessel.  From  what  we  hear  in 
England,  I  imagined  negroes  were  kept  at  a  distance.  That  is  the  case 
in  the  Northern  States,  but  in  the  South  they  are  at  your  elbow  every 
where,  and  always  seek  conversation.  This  was  an  old  nurse,  an  aunty, 
or  mammy,  as  they  are  sometimes  called  (all  ancient  women  of  the 
darky  kind  here  are  addressed  as  aunties).  She  was  very  communi 
cative,  told  me  she  had  a  young  mistress  in  Texas  (sisters  have  some 
times  a  common  property  in  slaves  left  by  their  parents) ;  that  she 


AN    AUNTY.  305 

was  very  fond  of  this  master  and  mistress,  and  she  ran  on  as  follows 
—'But  there  'tis  hard  to  be  divided  from  t'other;  but  then  people 
must  have  their  'flictions  in  this  world.     When  I  was  a  young  girl, 
there,  I  used  sometimes  to  fancy  '  twould  be  a  fine  thing  to  be  free ; 
but,  there,  I  don't  now  think  'twould  be  mighty  fine  at  all ;  there, 
I  have  everything  I  want  in  the  wide  world,  'cept  jewellery,  and  that 
I  don't  want  at  all  now,  and,  there  (some  of  the  coloured  people 
have  such  a  lot  of  jewellery  you  can't  think) ;  I  say,  Cissy,  now  (ad 
dressing  one  of  her  charges)  don't  go  for  to  tumble  over  there ;  now 
if  you  gets  into  the  water,  we  sha'n't  have  you  a  bit  more,  and  then 
your  poor  old  aunty  will  die  of  it— that  she  will— and  won't  see  her 
no  more.     I  say,  missus,  I  don't  let  master  keep  my  children  up  o' 
nights  as  some  of  their  papas  and  mammas  do  :  I  says,  'Master,  it 
sha'n't  be,  it  sha'n't— it  isn't  fit  for  they  little  ones  as  ought  to  be  in 
their  beds ; '  and  so  my  children  have  got  colours  in  their  faces,  that 
they  does.'  •  I  asked  her  what  she  thought  of  slaves  being  free  here : 
her  reply  was,  'I  say,  missus,  it  does  'em  no  good,  nor  anyone  else. 
If  people  has  a  fancy  to  make  'em  free,  send  'em  to  Africa,  the  place 
they  corned  from,  I  say.     Why,  missus,  these  free  niggers  are  half 
their  time  bad  niggers ;  and  they  does  insult  they  niggers  as  keeps 
to  their  own  masters  and   mistresses,  and  are  mighty  better  and 
happier  too,  and  that  makes  'em  mad  to  see.    Tt  is  not  right,  missus, 
by  the  'spectable  slaves  to  have  them  there  free  niggers,  with  their 
jewellery,  and  their  flowers,  and  their  'bacco,  and  their  drink,  idling 
about  saucy  and  idle,  it  gives  the  dark  people  a  bad  'kracter ;  and  I 
say,  missus,  it  isn't  right.    Send  'em  away,  I  say,  and  then  they  may 
go  and  sit  in  the  sun  and  do  nothing,  just  as  the  half  of  them  do.' 
So  she  ran  on  in  a  stream  of  talk,  all  much  to  the  same  purpose. 
One  question  to  set  these  people  off  is  generally  enough  to  have  the 
benefit  of  all  their  thoughts;    but  it  is  better  to  keep  one's  own 
opinions  in  the  background,  for  they  are  so  imitative,  they  will  often 
reflect  you  if  they  can.     The  day  before  yesterday,  I  heard  of  an  in 
telligent  negro  just  freed  by  his  master,  after  thirty-six  years'  good 
service.     He  was  fifteen  when  brought  over,  remembered  his  native 
tongue,  and  intends  to  return  to  Africa.     He  strongly  expresses  his 
14* 


306  STONE    MOUNTAIN. 

gratitude  for  having  been  brought  over  to  America,  and  says, '  Master, 
don't  you  let  white  masters  and  mistresses  hurt  the  Slavery  Institu 
tion.  I  say,  Master,  it  be  Good  Almighty's  school  for  the  coloured 
people  it  be,  that  He  have  made.  Why,  Massa,  what  would  such 
a  man  as  me  have  been  without  the  slave  merchant  ?  How  should 
me  have  got  a  bit  of  education  as  me  have  ?  And  now  go  and  try 
to  give  a  bit  to  the  race  out  there,  who  would  a  bring  us  over?  I 
say,  Master,  we  should  .ha'  been  worse  than  slaves,  but  for  the 
Slavery  Institution  that  brought  us  here  to  know  how  to  work,  and 
to  hear  about  the  good  Almighty,  and  to  know  about  what  we  should 
never  have  known  in  our  own  country.  No,  Massa,  don't  hurt  the 
Slave  Institution.'  What  would  Mrs.  Stowe  say  to  this  Uncle  Tom? 
for  he  is  the  nearest  to  Uncle  Tom  of  any  negro  I  have  heard  of,  and 
he  will  make  a  capital  African  missionary. 

Chatanooga,  May  9. — The  day  before  yesterday  I  went  sixteen 
miles  on  the  Augusta  railroad  to  see  the  '  Stone  Mountain,'  which 
was  in  all  respects  more  singular  and  curious  than  I  expected.  There 
is  a  comfortable  little  hotel  in  the  small  village  called  from  the  hill 
*  Stone  Mountain.'  *  Mr.  Clarke,  the  intelligent  master,  was  so 
obliging  as  to  drive  me  himself  in  a  little  wagon  to  that  side  from 
which  the  most  interesting  view  is  to  be  obtained.  You  must 
imagine  an  enormous  granite  bolster  laid  upon  a  deep  valley,  coming 
as  straight  as  the  side  of  a  house  down  eleven  hundred  feet,  then 
rounded  towards  the  top  five  hundred  feet  more,  smooth,  and  with 
out  vegetation,  excepting  at  one  spot  towards  the  western  summit, 
where  numbers  of  grey  eagles  are  to  be  seen.  Granite  pillars  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  long  could  be  hewn  from  its  perpendicular  sides. 
It  is  said  to  be  legitimate  granite,  with  brilliant  brownish-looking 
mica  in  it ;  but  I  have  got  specimens  for  geologists  to  decide  upon. 
It  is  externally  a  dark  grey  colour.  I  crossed  a  small  stream  to  the 
foot  of  the  precipice:  I  know  none,  not  even  the  Martenswald  of  the 
Tyrol,  so  gigantic — I  should  think  that  eagles  alone  could  surmount 
it.  A  plummet,  with  the  rope  eleven  hundred  feet  in  length,  has 

*  Burned  to  the  ground  the  night  after  I  was  there. 


AN    OBLIGING    LANDLORD.  307 

been  dropped  in  a  straight  line  from  above  the  spot  I  stood  upon, 
which  resembled  a  beautiful  English  rock  garden,  bounded  by  fine 
trees,  with  thickets  of  Kalmia  latifola  in  full  bloom  on  one  side,  the 
mountain  wall  on  the  other.     After  passing  a  stream  and  rising  an 
eminence  in  a  wood  full  of  scarlet  and  pink  Azaleas,  I  came  to  acres 
of  tabular  granite,  from  whence  I  attempted  a  sketch  of  the  gigantic 
stony  pillow  before  me.     A  photograph  might  give  a  true  picture, 
but  any  pencil  must  be  incompetent.     I  found  Asplenium  alpinurn 
in  fissures  at  the  base  of  the  precipice,  but  no   other  vegetation. 
The  flowering  shrubs  are  plentifnl  around,  but  I  saw  few  smaller 
plants  in  blow  ;  and  my  guide  told  me  the  earlier  months  of  spring 
are  most  favourable  here  for  such  things.   He  was  the  first  American 
I  have  met  with  (except  Botanical  Professors)  who  takes  an  interest 
in  flowers.     He  gathered  a  large  bouquet  of  Azaleas,  Kalmias,  Bac- 
cinniums,  &c.,  and  thanked  me  for  having  been  the  means  of  bring 
ing  him  to  the  rock  garden,  which  he  had  never  vis4ted  before  when 
the  Kalmias  were  in  bloom ;  though  he  had  a  great  pleasure  (he 
said)  in  wandering  alone  about  the  mountain  ;  '  but  then  I  could 
never  have  persuaded  my  ladies  to  come  to  such  a  place  as  this.' 
We  had  to  scramble  across  a  stream  and  over  the  rocks,  certainly ; 
but  I  would  have  walked  barefoot  through  the  waters  rather  than 
have  missed  the  scene.     I  do  not  wonder  that  American  ladies  in 
the   mass   look   dispirited  and  '  sick '  (the  word  generally  used  in 
the  United  States  for  ill),  they  take  so  little  exercise,  and  lose  the 
best  enjoyments  of  life  in  their  neglect  of  natural  beauty  for  arti 
ficial   pleasures ;    and  no  wonder  they  are  victims  of  consumption 
and  ennui.     I  returned  to  the  hotel  for  dinner  and  an  hour's  rest, 
then  took  a  young  negro  boy  for  my  guide,  and  walked  half  way 
up  the  mountain,  so  as  to  sketch  it  from  near  the  Eagle's  '  cairn ' 
(as  it  would  be  called  in  Scotland).     The  descent  was  hot  and 
fatiguing,  but  I  got  back  in  good  time  for  the  half-past  four  o'clock 
train,  and  our  obliging  landlord  went  to  Atlanta  by  the  same  cars, 
and  took  great  charge  of  me.     He  expressed  a  strong  wish  to  visit 
England,  and  it  would  give  me  pleasure  to  pay  him  any  attention 
there  in  return  for  a  kindness  and  courtesy  not  by  any  means  common 


308  A    JUVENILE    COACHMAN. 

amon^  the  masters  and  mistresses  of  hotels  in  America,  who  gene 
rally  consider  it  rather  derogatory  to  show  personal  civility  to  their 
customers. 

j\fay  9. — By  a  quarter-past  four  in  the  morning  we  left  the  At 
lanta,  and  travelled  here  through  a  fine  country,  only  settled  within 
the  last  twenty  years.  All  the  stations  are  small  villages.  I  find 
Chatanooga  a  pretty  scattered  town  on  the  banks  of  the  Tennessee 
River,  within  five  miles  of  '  Look-out  Mountain.'  In  twenty  years 
more  it  will  acquire  the  population,  as  well  as  the  name  of  a  city, 
here  given  by  anticipation.  I  procured  a  carriage  at  half-past  two 
o'clock,  to  convey  me  to  the  top  of  '  Look-out.'  I  ascended  by  a 
beautiful  drive  through  rocks  and  wood.  1  walked  up  some  parti 
cularly  steep  places,  and  added  two  pretty  new  flowers  to  my  collec 
tion — a  crimson  Lychnis  and  a  pale  lilac  Geranium ;  but  through 
all  this  country  flowers  are  scarce.  I  see  only  shrubs — junipers, 
cedars,  &c. — which  excite  my  wishes  in  going  along  by  the  cars. 

Upon  reaching  what  is  called  '  the  Point,'  a  view  of  Chatanooga 
and  Tennessee  River,  flowing  through  mighty  forests,  was  very  fine. 
This  hill  is  a  strong  contrast  to  the  Stone  Mountain  ;  not  so  unique 
in  any  way,  but  still  fine.  Sandstone  rocks  were  heaped  upon  one 
another  like  some  of  those  at  our  Tunbridge  Wells,  though  this  for 
mation  must  be  much  older  ;  and  I  saw  some  conglomerate  of  quartz 
and  sand.  After  making  a  sketch,  my  very  young  coachman  (a  boy 
not  more  than  fifteen)  drove  his  two  spirited  horses  with  great  tact 
and  caution  down  the  rough  descent. 

We  passed  two  or  three  slight  summer  residences,  built  by  gen 
tlemen  of  Chatanooga,  as  cool  resorts  for  their  families  in  the  hot  sea 
son,  and  there  is  also  an  hotel  on  the  mountain.  I  reached  the  town 
again  happily  before  sunset,  without  any  accident  or  difficulty,  though 
I  had  no  one  with  me  but  my  young  driver.  Being  tired,  I  went  to 
rest,  and  slept  for  nine  hours  at  once,  to  make  up  for  lost  time. 

Nashville,  May  1 1 . — It  was  dark  when  we  reached  this  place, 
at  half-past  ten  last  night,  so  I  missed  the  last  thirty  miles  of  sce 
nery  ;  but  certainly  the  previous  one  hundred  and  twenty  we  passed 
through  is  a  most  beautiful  district.  I  never  knew  any  territory  be 
longing  to  the  old  red  sandstone  that  was  not  beautiful.  The  neigh- 


AMERICAN    ROMANCING.  309 

bouring  kingdoms  of  limestone  and  granite  may  be  more  majestic, 
but  then  they  have  sometimes  an  aspect  of  sternness  and  desolation 
never  worn  by  the  red  sandstone.  Here  are  all  the  beauties  of  Brae- 
mar  and  Ross-shire,  and  the  Odenwald,  watered  by  a  river  almost 
equalling  the  Rhine  in  breadth,  volume,  and  colour,  to  which  must 
be  added  the  rich  and  varied  foliage  of  the  south.  This  is  what 
may  be  seen  for  more  than  a  hundred  miles  between  Nashville  and 
Chatanooga,  We  passed  viaducts  over  ravines,  in  which  some  fortu 
nate  settlers  had  established  their  log  abodes  in  situations  the  most 
enviable  ;  and  here  there  are  no  snakes  and  no  malaria  to  take  off 
from  other  advantages.  I  would  willingly  live  in  Tennessee. 

I  am  up  early,  and  before  going  to  breakfast,  or  being  distracted 
by  thoughts  derived  from  another  fresh,  locality,  I  must  give  you  the 
benefit  of  past  observations ;  and  I  want  to  remark  as  one  of  them, 
that  the  Americans  must  not  be  depended  on  for  information  as  to 
facts  regarding  their  own  country,  particularly  not  for  any  facts  of 
natural  science.  They  are  not  sufficiently  aware  of  the  importance 
of  such  things,  and  their  love  of  practical  jokes  is  strong.  I  might 
instance  the  Floating  Island  in  Lake  Solitude,  which  never  had  any 
existence  but  in  the  imagination  of  its  inventors ;  and  I  will  tell  you 
one  story  as  exemplifying  this  Transatlantic  habit.  An  old  lady, 
who  possessed  more  botanical  curiosity  than  is  commonly  met  with 
among  ladies  in  this  country,  requested  a  sailor  nephew,  about  to  visit 

South  America,  to  bring  her  a  Mexican  Cactus  plant.     Captain 

forgot  his  aunt's  wish  while  in  that  country ;  ashamed  to  confess  his 
delinquency,  and  not  being  able  to  resist  the  temptation  to  have  his 
joke  at  her  expense,  he  procured  a  flower-pot,  buried  in  it  a  large 
rat  all  but  the  tail  (which  he  tied  in  gardener-like  fashion  to  a  stick), 
and  wrote  on  a  neat  tally  the  name,  '  Cactus  Rattailiense?  When 
he  presented  this,  the  old  lady  exclaimed,  '  What  a  queer  plant  ! 
why  is  it  called  Rattailiense  ? ' 

*  Don't  you  see,  my  dear  Aunt,  it  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to 
the  tail  of  a  rat  ? ' 

*  Well,'  said  she,  '  that  is  very  odd ;  and  it  certainly  smells  some 
thing  like  a  rat,  too.' 

The  captain  went  off  to  sea  again  before  his  fraud  was  discov- 


310  ACHILLE    MURAT. 

ered,  and  trusted  to  the  effect  of  time  and  absence  to  procure  his 
forgiveness. 

I  have  heard  some  curious  anecdotes  of  Achille  Murat,  who  lived 
for  some  years  in  Florida.  He  was  considered  a  man  of  talent,  but 
eccentric.  After  the  present  restoration  of  his  family,  some  one  said, 
*  Perhaps  in  due  time  we  may  again  see  you  an  exile  in  this  country.' 

'  No,'  said  he, '  never.  Now  they  have  again .  accepted  us  in 
France,  we  shall  cut  their  throats,  or  they  must  cut  ours.' 

Having  once  made  a  few  thousand  dollars  by  a  speculation,  he 
presented  his  wife  with  a  magnificent  tea-service,  at  a  time  when  she 
could  hardly  provide  necessaries  ;  and  this  was  owing  to  his  strong 
faith  in  the  '  Future '  of  his  race.  After  his  return  to  Fance,  when 
he  had  arranged  an  expensive  establishment,  a  person  to  whom  he 
owed  seven  thousand  dollars  applied  for  repayment,  which  Achille 
said  was  impossible. 

'  I  thought,'  said  his  creditor,  '  that  living  as  you  do  now,  you 
could  find  no  difficulty.' 

*  Why,'  answered  the  Prince,  '  it  is  true  I  have  sufficient  to  keep 
up  my  situation,  but  I  have  not  enough  to  pay  my  debts.' 

I  believe,  however,  he  has  since  liquidated  them. 

Since  Louis  Napoleon  became  Emperor,  he  has  presented  a  com 
plete  set  of  the  *  H.  B.'  caricatures  to  the  library  at  Albany,  New 
York  State. 

I  think  these  stories  are  genuine  ;  but  I  have  seldom  given  cre 
dence  to  second-hand  information.  I  should  only  have  believed 
Captain  Rollings  own  account  of  his  sea-serpent,  and  if  that  calm  ob 
servant  sailor  has  fallen  into  the  fashion  of  this  country  of  imposing 
falsely-strung  yarns  upon  strangers,  I  must  give  up  al  confidence  in 
the  veracity  of  American  informants. 

Three  Forks,  Kentucky. — After  a  fatiguing  journey  (nine  inside 
passengers  in  the  mail  coach)  we  reached  this  place  at  eleven  o'clock 
last  night,  setting  off  at  five  in  the  morning ;  and  it  is  rather  an  un 
pleasant  consideration,  that  after  visiting  the  Mammoth  Cave,  seven 
miles  from  hence,  we  must  take  the  mail  again  to-morrow  night,  and 
proceed  on  towards  Louisville  at  the  same  hour  we  disembarked 


MRS.    POLK.  311 

from  that  conveyance  here.      These  inevitable  night  journeys  are 
what  I  dislike  most  in  American  travel.     I  have  fallen  in  with  a 
gentleman  and  lady  who  are  shortly  going  to  England.     They  are 
so  obliging  as  to  take  charge  of  this  packet ;  I  shall  therefore  put  off 
telling  you  what  I  think  of  the  Mammoth  Cave  till  my  next  letter, 
and  only  add  that  I  found  Nashville  a  pleasant  town.     It  is  watered 
by  the  Cumberland,  a  river  which  floats  steamers,  but  it  is  much  in 
ferior  to  the  Tennessee  both  in  size  and  colour.     A  very  handsome 
State-house,  or  Capitol,  is  nearly  completed  at  Nashville.      Well 
situated  upon  a  hill,  it  is  the  best  architectural  building  for  its  pur 
pose  I  have  yet  seen  in  the  States.     The  style  is  Ionic :  eight  pillars 
support  the  pediment,  upon  each  of  the  four  sides,  and  the  lantern 
above  the  roof  is  ornamented  by  octagonal  slabs  to  match.     This 
lantern  being  unfinished,  one  cannot  perfectly  imagine  its  general  ef 
fect  ;  but,  judging  from  the  good  taste  evinced  by  the  architect,  Mr. 
Strickland,  (an  Englishman,  I  understand,)  in  his  plan,  it  is  probable 
that  the  completion  of  this  building  will  be  worthy  of  its  commence 
ment.     Its  material  is  the  beautifully  coloured  grey  limestone  of 
Kentucky.     I  had  the  pleasure  of  making  acquaintance  with  Mrs. 
Polk,  widow  of  President  Polk,  whose  burial-place  and  monument 
are  in  the  garden  upon  one  side  of  her  residence.     It  is  a  handsome 
but  simple  erection,  bearing  an  inscription  worthy  of  the  man  whose 
life  and  death  it  records ;  and  I  sympathized  with  feelings  which  do 
not  shrink  from  the  sight  of  the  last  memorials  of  valued  friends  who 
have  preceded  us.     I  had  not  time  to  see  much  of  the  neighbourhood 
of  Nashville,  but  I  met  a  few  agreeable  people  there ;  and  could 
have  made  a  pretty  sketch  from  the  Suspension  Bridge,  if  the  de 
parture  of  the  mail  on  alternate  days  only  had  not  prevented  me  from 
staying  a  few  hours  longer.     In  haste, 

Your  affectionate 

A.  M.  M. 

TIIKEE  FORKS,  KENTUCKY, 
May  13,  1855. 


LETTER  XXVI. 


MAMMOTH  GATE, 
May  14, 1855. 


MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

The  Mammoth  Cave  is  not  the  wonder  I  expected.  Perhaps 
my  expectations  were  raised  too  high,  and  so,  as  is  sometimes  the 
case,  I  do  not  fairly  appreciate  what  has  been  considered  secondary 
only  to  the  Falls  of  Niagara ;  but,  in  my  opinion,  the  Stone  Moun 
tain  of  Georgia  is  a  greater  marvel  of  nature  than  the  caves  of 
Kentucky. 

Underground  rivers  are  by  no  means  rare :  they  are  very  nu 
merous  in  Florida ;  and  the  Mammoth  Cave  is  evidently  the  deserted 
bed  of  ancient  streams.  In  some  places  it  resembles  gigantic  drains, 
of  which  one  of  the  most  curious  features  is  the  regular,  smooth, 
plastered-looking  roof  and  sides.  I  have  seen  no  elegant  stalactite 
pillars  like  those  of  the  Adelberg  Cave  in  Carniola.  The  caverns 
here  are  heavy -looking,  dark  and  dismal ;  but  there  are  some  gigan 
tic  pits  and  domes,  frightful  from  their  height  and  depth.  The 
stalactite  altar,  in  what  is  called  the  Gothic  Chapel,  and  a  comfort 
able  arm-chair  of  the  same  material,  were  the  most  interesting  things 
I  saw.  There  are  casts  of  fossils  on  the  walls  of  what  is  here  called 
oolitic  rock,  a  fine  emericite  in  one  place.  I  see  also  at  the  hotel 
fossil-wood  of  the  coal  formations,  which  were  procured  about  seven 
miles  off,  but  not  from  any  of  the  Caves.  On  the  whole,  I  was  more 


TREATMENT   OF    TRAVELLERS.  313 

interested  by  plants  at  the  mouth,  of  the  cavern  than  by  our  five 
miles'  walk  within ;  and  to-morrow  I  shall  probably  ramble  above 
ground,  instead  of  beneath  it.  I  found  Podophyllum  pellatum  in 
flower  for  the  first  time ;  a  singularly  pretty,  one-flowering,  bluish- 
grey  Aster,*  and  other  novelties. 

Several  people  came  with  us  in  a  stage-coach  from  Three  Forks, 
and  it  is  to  convey  us  back  to-morrow  afternoon,  in  time  to  rest  be 
fore  the  mail  takes  us  on. 

Three  Forks,  or  *  Bells'  (as  I  find  they  call  this  place,  to  which 
we  returned  this  afternoon,  May  14th).     Instead  of  the  coach  taking 
us  on,  as  promised  at  Nashville  (where  they  persuaded  me  to  pay 
for  the  whole  distance  to  Louisville),  it  arrived  here  loaded,  and  we 
are  detained  till  passengers  may  happen  to  be  scarce.     This  is  the 
kind  of  treatment  travellers  are  subjected  to.     It  is  impossible  to 
place  any  dependence  upon  the  assurances  of  agents;  when  they 
have  got  your  money,  they  will,  without  compunction,  leave  you  in 
the  lurch.     The  lady  and  gentleman  who  have  taken  their  passage 
to  England  for  the  23rd  are  in  the  same  predicament,  and  are  of 
course  still  more  inconvenienced.     Instead  of  underground  investi 
gations  this  morning,  I  botanized  in  the  woods  above  the  Mammoth 
Cave,  and  found  many  interesting  plants,  particularly  a  pretty  dwarf 
Iris,  quite  new  to  me ;  Phacelia  fimbriata,  with  ivy-shaped  leaves, 
and  fine  specimens  of  Botrychium  Virginicum,  and  other  ferns  in 
fruit.     I  walked  as  far  as  Green  River,  and  made  a  sketch  there  :  it 
is  well  named,  for  the  water  looks  solidly  green.     This  river  falls  into 
the  Ohio,  and  by  going  down  it,  and  then  up  the  Cumberland,  there 
is  a  water  communication  with  Nashville ;  but  now  the  rivers  are  so 
low  this  is  not  practicable.     All  the  party,  excepting  myself,  entered 
the  Cave  this  morning  at  eight  o'clock,  and  did  not  emerge  again 
till  six  in  the  afternoon.     They  admired  some  of  the  caverns  much 
more  than  those  we  saw  yesterday,  and  tell  me  that  the  imitations 


*  I  suppose  this  to  be  '  Aster  grandiflorus,'  though  Darby's  Botany  says 
that  plant  flowers  in  October,  and  that  it  is  two  or  three  feet,  this  is  not  one 
foot,  high. 


314  MOCKING-BIRDS. 

of  flowers  and  forms  of  various  kinds  in  the  snowy  gypsum  are  very 
beautiful;  but  the  expedition  was  tedious  and  fatiguing,  and  I  do 
not  repent  my  decision  against  it.  No  eyeless  fish  were  to  be  pro 
cured — the  water  was  too  low ;  though  they  are  the  great  curiosity 
of  the  place.  The  preserved  specimens  I  have  seen  have  rudiments 
or  marks  where  eyes  should  be,  and  I  suppose  that  the  organ  has 
perished  in  process  of  time,  from  want  of  use,  many  generations  one 
after  another  having  existed  and  died  in  the  dark.  I  have  seen  two 
species,  a  kind  of  perch  and  a  crayfish.*  Stephen,  the  guide  who 
accompanied  us,  is  a  mulatto  of  great  intelligence :  he  is  at  present 
a  slave,  but  is  to  have  his  freedom  next  year,  and  then  goes  to 
Liberia  with  his  wife  and  family  (he  would  not  wish  to  be  free  in 
this  country) ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  when  beyond  control,  a 
certain  propensity  for  strong  waters  will  be  his  destruction.  His  ap 
pearance  is  that  of  a  good-looking  Spaniard  ;  he  is  considered  much 
the  best  guide,  and  he  has  not  only  acquired  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  locality  of  the  Cave,  but  also  some  degree  of  scientific  acquaint 
ance  with  its  geological  and  chemical  productions :  besides  which, 
he  seems  to  have  read  and  studied  the  history  of  other  places  of  the 
same  nature,  as  far  as  he  has  been  able  to  procure  books. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  nearly  all  the  district  was  tunneled 
or  undermined  by  water,  which  the  lapse  of  ages  has  dried  up,  or 
drained  off  by  numerous  rivers.  The  caverns  I  saw  in  Cuba  were 
probably  owing  to  rather  different  circumstances,  in  which  volcanic 
action  played  a  larger  part.  The  Cueva  del  Candela  was  an  exten 
sive  opening  above  the  plain  in  the  side  of  a  hill,  whereas  these 
Kentucky  Caves  are  all  below  the  surrounding  country. 

Six  o'clock,  May  15. — I  have  been  awakened  by  the  singing  of 
the  mocking-birds  in  a  small  orchard  close  to  the  English-looking 
garden  here  :  there  is  a  tame  one  in  a  cage  downstairs,  who  sings 
unceasingly,  and  I  suppose  he  attracts  all  the  birds  of  the  neighbour 
hood  :  at  night  their  song  resembles  our  nightingale  ;  this  morning 
it  is  exactly  like  that  of  canaries.  Although  my  wanderings  in  the 

*  I  have  now  got  the  latter. 


EVENTUALITIES.  315 

woods  yesterday  lasted  some  hours,  I  did  not  feel  apprehensive  of 
snakes  :  one  of  the  guides  told  me  before  I  set  out,  that  although 
there  are  rattlesnakes,  and  some  other  kinds  occasionally  here,  yet,  in 
his  opinion,  the  popular  fear  of  them  is  much  greater  than  necessary ; 
that  they  always  get  out  of  your  way  if  possible,  and  he  has  him 
self  often  walked  over  them,  without  danger ;  they  never  wound  un 
less  driven  to  it  in  self-defence.  There  are  many  pigs,  too,  in  the 
woods  above  the  Mammoth  Cave,  and  they  are  perfect  snake  scaven 
gers,  eating  up  all  they  can  rout  out  or  fall  in  with.  I  saw  the  tail  of 
something  darting  into  a  hole,  but  could  not  be  sure  whether  it  was 
snake  or  lizard  ;  besides  this,  I  caught  sight  of  no  animal  but  a  frog 
with  large  eyes.  After  I  had  been  out  five  hours,  one  of  the  negroes 
came  to  look  after  me,  and  I  was  glad  to  make  over  my  flower-press 
for  him  to  carry  back  ;  I  had  a  sketch-book,  a  bamboo  stick,  and  a  tin 
case  (none  of  the  smallest)  ;  and  these  often  obliged  me  to  go  twice 
over  the  same  ground,  because  I  could  not  carry  them  all  at  once  ;  and 
yet  it  was  a  much  greater  enjoyment  to  be  without  an  attendant  who 
would  have  hurried  me,  and  look  bored,  if  he  did  not  express  him 
self  so.  The  negroes,  too,  watch  your  every  motion  with  such  eager 
curiosity,  and  will  hardly  let  you  stir  without  their  help.  My  friend 
was  very  loth  to  go ;  he  tried  to  persuade  me  that  it  might  rain,  or 
blow  some  of  the  trees  down  upon  me ;  but  I  said  I  was  not  afraid,  and 
that  if  it  rained  very  hard,  he  might  bring  out  an  umbrella  to  a 
spring  near,  to  which  I  meant  to  find  my  way  ;  so  at  last  he  left  me 
to  my  own  inventions,  and  no  difficulties  occurred.  I  returned  to  the 
hotel  by  half-past  three  o'clock.  Immediately  after  the  Cave  hunt 
ers  came  back,  we  were  summond  to  get  into  the  coach  ;  for  the  road 
being  bad,  we  had  to  walk  up  and  down  some  of  the  hills,  and  to 
arrive  again  at  our  starting-place  before  dusk.  After  tea  there,  we 
went  to  rest,  preparatory  to  our  expected  night  journey,  and  we 
were  packed  and  ready,  when  we  were  told  it  was  impossible  we 
could  be  taken  on ;  so  we  were  obliged  to  reconcile  ourselves  to 
twenty-four  hours'  pause.  Next  morning,  I  was  agreeably  surprised 

to  find  my  Anglo-American  friend,  Miss  G ,  had  arrived  with  a 

party  to  proceed  to  the  Cave,  so  that  my  detention  enabled  us  to 


310  A    NEGRO    BEAUTY. 

meet.  My  Hortus  Siccus  also  will  benefit  much  by  the  time  I  was 
able  to  bestow  upon  it,  and  a  walk  in  the  forest  surrounding  this 
place  was  the  means  of  my  adding  a  singular  fern  to  my  collec 
tion  ;  excepting  that  fern,  I  did  not  find  much  that  I  had  not  already 
put  into  my  press  at  the  Mammoth  Cave  ;  a  brilliant  orange  Coreop 
sis,  probably  one  of  those  we  already  have  in  our  gardens,  is  com 
mon  in  these  woods,  which  are  sprinkled  all  about  with  rocks,  but 
none  of  large  dimensions. 

Louisville,  May,  17.— At  ten  o'clock  the  night  before  last  we 
got  into  a  crammed  coach  at  Three  Forks  ;  nine  inside,  two  of  whom 
were  negro  women  ;  also  a  black  baby— and  such  a  frightful  speci 
men  of  black  nature  as  one  of  these  slave  women  was  ! — her  mouth 
just  like  a  catfish ;  andthen  so  sulky  mannered  and  unaccommodating; 
she  took  her  own  share  of  the  room,  and  added  to  it  as  much  as  she 
could  possibly  steal  from  her  neighbours.  Talk  of  white  freedom  ! 
why  I  never  saw  women  of  the  white  classes  in  England  as  indepen 
dent  and  assuming  in  manner  as  some  of  these  darkies.  I  can  im 
agine  what  they  must  be  in  the  West  Indies,  since  we  have  given 
them  free  scope  there  ! 

Yesterday  afternoon  the  rain  poured  down  in  torrents,  a  great 
boon  to  this  parched  country,  though  it  did  not  make  our  tedious 
journey  more  pleasant ;  the  way  to  Louisville  was  through  open  woods 
and  fields  and  glades,  which  would  have  been  English  in  character, 
if  the  everlasting  and  ugly  snake  fences  had  not  kept  us  constantly 
in  mind  of  America.  We  ferried  over  the  Salt  River  just  at  its 
junction  with  the  Ohio,  having  before  travelled  along  one  of  its 
beautiful  shores,  and  then  we  passed  through  Elizabethville,  and 
Nolinn's  Creek ;  so  called  from  a  hunter  of  the  name  of  Linn.  In 
the  early  times  of  the  settlement  his  party  having  lost  their  compan 
ion  in  the  forests,  separated  to  seek  him,  and  having  given  their 
rendezvous  at  this  spot,  each  man  as  they  came  in  called  out  No  Linn; 
this  was  the  origin  of  the  name.  Louisville  is  a  large  city  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio ;  it  has  no  very  attractive  features,  and  as  we 
must  proceed  by  rail  to  Cincinnati  at  eight  o'clock  this  morning,  I 
shall  not  have  time  to  see  much  here.  There  is  a  heavy  ugly  Court- 


CINCINNATI.  317 

house,  in  an  unfinished  dilapidated-looking  state,  and  the  streets  are 
ill-paved ;  I  understand  the  population  mounts  up  to  fifty  thousand, 
and  this  hotel  was  so  crowded,  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  my  accom 
modating  English  friends  who  gave  up  a  room  they  had  engaged,  we 
should  have  been  obliged  to  seek  beds  elsewhere. 

Cincinnati,  May  17. — "We  crossed  the  Ohio  River  this  morning 
by  a  ferry-boat  at  eight  o'clock,  to  start  from  the  railway  station, 
which  has  the  most  roomy  and  comfortable  cars  I  have  yet  met  with 
in  America.  We  reached  this  place,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
from  Louisville,  by  three  o'clock,  passing  by  a  series  of  picturesque 
low-wooded  hills,  which  are  called  the  Knobs  of  Ohio.  President 
Harrison's  tomb  is  on  one  of  these  elevations,  near  a  pretty  town 
named  Aurora.  Kentucky  is  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  We 
are  now  in  Ohio,  which  bears  the  appellation  of  the  Buckeye  State. 
Nearly  every  State  and  each  chief  city  has  what  may  be  called  a 
local  designation,  and  some  of  these  are  extremely  appropriate :  I 
will  give  you  a  list  of  those  I  have  ascertained  : — 


New  York,  Empire  State 
Massachusetts,  Bay  State 
Philadelphia,  Key  State 
Kentucky,  Corncracker  State 
Indiana,  'Hoosier'*  State 
Illinois,  Sucker  State    . 
Virginia,  Old  Dominion 
South  Carolina,  Palmetto  State 
Missouri,  Wolverine  State     . 
California,  Gold  State 
Georgia,  Rice  State 
Louisiana,  French  State 
Florida,  Shell  State 


Empire  City. 
Bay  City. 
Quaker  City. 
Pittsburg,  Srnoky  City. 
Cleveland,  Forest  City. 
Wheeling,  Bridge  City. 
Cincinnati,  Queen  City. 
Saint  Louis,  Mound  City. 
Louisville,  Falls  City. 
Galena,  Garden  City. 
Memphis,  Bluff  City. 
New  Orleans,  Crescent  City. 
Indianapolis,  Railroad  City. 


May  18. — Soon  after  reaching  Cincinnati  yesterday  afternoon,  I 
set  off  in  the  hope  of  seeing  Mr.  Longworth's  Cacti ;  but,  unfortu 
nately,  the  greenhouse  with  everything  in  it,  was  destroyed  by  fire, 
about  three  years  ago  ;  and  it  is  an  exemplification  of  Transatlantic 

*  Madame  Pfeiffer  mistook  Governor  Wright,  when  she  gave,  from  his 
authorit}'-,  another  derivation  for  the  word  'Hoosier.'  It  originated  in  a 
settler's  exclaiming  '  Huzza,'  upon  gaining  the  victory  over  a  marauding 
party  from  a  neighbouring  State. 


318  A    GENERIC    TERM. 

indifference  to  such  things,  that  a  loss  of  the  finest  collection  of 
Cacti  in  the  United  States,  and  perhaps  in  the  world,  does  not  ap 
pear  to  have  been  known  except  to  those  immediately  concerned. 
I  found  nothing  very  new  in  the  glass  houses  belonging  to  Mr.  Long- 
worth  ;  but  in  one  of  them  the  Victoria  Regia  was  in  flower ;  and  there 
is  an  intelligent  young  Scotchman  as  gardener.  Mr.  Longworth's 
residence,  though  in  the  town,  is  large ;  and  within  the  grounds, 
on  either  side,  he  has  erected  other  handsome  houses,  for  two  sons- 
in-law.  Mr.  Longworth  was  away  from  home,  but  Mr.  Anderson, 
who  married  one  of  his  daughters,  was  so  obliging  as  to  show  me 
the  first  works  of  Power — one  a  charming  ideal  bust,  entitled  Gfene- 
vra,  and  the  other  a  bust  of  his  patron,  considered  very  good ;  it 
reminded  me  of  Seneca. 

The  agriculturists  were  blessed  by  much  rain  yesterday.  We 
are  now  come  far  enough  north  to  feel  a  change  of  climate  ;  and 
an  advantage  to  me  will  be  the  getting  away  from  a  species  of  tick, 
which  was  the  torment  of  my  Southern  walks.  The  insect  is  as 
large  as  that  which  in  England  is  rarely  named  to  ears  polite, 
though  here  it  is  the  usual  designation  of  every  creeping  thing. 
This  tick  is  so  insidious  in  its  approaches,  that  you  are  not  made 
sensible  of  having  one  upon  you  till  it  has  fastened  itself  tightly  into 
your  skin.  After  botanizing  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Mammoth 
Cave,  I  felt  tormented  during  our  night  journey  to  Louisville  ;  and, 

upon   arriving   there,  E, extracted   twenty-five   of    the   little 

wretches  ;  they  are  very  tenacious  of  life ;  and,  if  the  head  is  left 
"behind,  greater  irritation  ensues ;  but  the  suffering  to  me  has  not 
been  greater  than  that  caused  by  the  sting  of  a  mosquito.  These  and 
cactus  spines  are  two  great  hindrances  to  botanical  researches  in  the 
Southern  States. 

Cincinnati  is  handsomer  and  more  attractive  than  Louisville,  and 
worthy  of  its  distinctive  name,  '  Queen  City.'  Geologically,  the 
formations  which  surround  it  are  singular.  I  believe  they  belong 
to  the  Devonian  group,  or  rather  Lower  Silurian  ;  but  there  is  lime 
stone  resembling  in  colour  and  appearance  (though  not  in  fossils) 
what  is  called  *  forest  marble'  in  England  ;  it  lies  in  flat  strata  about 


FUTURE    OF    CINCINNATI.  319 

a  foot,  or  half  a  foot  in  thickness,  alternating  with  clay ;  and,  in 
some  places,  I  observed  both  indurated  together  into  a  striped  rock, 
dark  and  light  grey.  I  have  got  a  few  specimens,  with  fossils, 
Trilobites,  Orthises,  &c. ;  and  very  large  Trilobites  are  found  here. 

Mr.  Mitchell,  the  astronomer,  took  me  up  to  his  Observatory, 
situated  upon  a  commanding  elevation  overlooking  the  town  and 
winding  Ohio.  This  will  one  day  be  a  gigantic  city;  already  her 
population  amounts  to  two  hundred  thousand.  The  emporium  of 
the  Western  States,  Cincinnati  is  both  commercial  and  manufactur 
ing.  Her  citizens  have  built,  and  are  building,  palaces  ;  and,  if  the 
first  settlers  could  but  have  imagined  the  future  of  the  great  capital 
they  were  founding,  instead  of  rooting  up  and  burning  down  the 
trees  on  the  numerous  heights,  and  then  partitioning  them  out  in  small 
lots  for  building,  they  would  have  preserved  them,  or  some  of  them, 
in  their  forest  attire,  in  public  parks  and  gardens  for  their  city, 
which,  by  this  time,  must  have  been  the  Queen  of  the  States,  in 
beauty  of  scenery  as  well  as  in  situation.  Professor  Mitchell  tried 
to  explain  his  wonderful  astronomical  instruments  to  my  unmechani- 
cal  comprehension.  I  can  only  see  that  he  has  made  great  dis 
coveries.  By  means  of  a  galvanic  battery,  he  produces  an  electric 
spark  each  second,  in  the  interior  of  a  clock,  by  which  he  works  his 
whole  observing  machinery  above.  Through  this  agent  he  has 
superseded  the  old  transit-glass ;  and  the  exact  situation  of  stars  is 
instantaneously  jotted  down  by  a  mere  finger-touch  from  the  ob 
server,  upon  a  connecting  rod.  I  do  not  know  whether  this  is  a  clear 
explanation,  for  though  I  understand  the  commencement  and  con 
clusion  of  the  operation,  I  have  not  sufficient  knowledge  to  trace  it 
through  all  its  mysterious  doings.  The  Professor  himself  drove  me 
up  and  down  some  of  the  terrific  hills  of  this  precipice  town ;  he  and 
his  pretty  little  horses  and  light  high-wheeled  carriage  seemed  so 
used  to  the  business,  that  I  did  not  insist  upon  jumping  out,  other 
wise  I  should  have  been  very  unwilling  to  have  been  driven  by  the 
very  edge  of  descents  which  it  makes  me  now  giddy  to  think  of. 
A  mizzling  rain  forced  us  to  give  up  a  proposed  drive  into  the  sur 
rounding  country  ;  and  I  was  obliged  to  be  content  with  cursory 


320  DR.  JOHNSON    ON    SLAVERY. 

views  of  the  principal  streets  ;  after  which  Mr.  Mitchell  took  me  to 
his  house  to  drink  tea  and  spend  the  evening  with  Mrs.  Mitchell  and 
his  family. 

Saturday,  May  19. — This  afternoon  I  go  on  by  rail  to  Indiana 
polis.  I  have  now  taken  leave  of  the  Southern  States,  but  I  must 
make  some  more  remarks  upon  the  Slavery  question.  Louisville 
and  Cincinnati  are  places  in  which,  I  believe,  Mrs.  Stowe  once  re 
sided  ;  and  I  quote  an  opinion  she  advances  in  her  last  work  which 
proves  her  entire  ignorance  of  negro  constitution  and  habits.  She 
asserts  that  Canada  is  the  best  locality  *  to  develope  the  energies  of 
the  black  race.'  Before  saying  this,  it  would  have  been  well  if  she 
had  studied  the  condition  of  the  free  negroes  in  Canada.  The  very 
climate  itself  is  utterly  unsuited  to  them.  Mrs.  Stowe  quotes,  as 
mistaken  and  absurd,  the  sensible  remarks  in  Boswell's  Life  of 
Johnson  respecting  negro  slavery,  which  I  must  re-quote  as  wise  and 
true  :  'To  abolish  a  status  which  in  all  ages  God  has  sanctioned  and 
man  has  continued,  would  not  only  be  robbing  a  numerous  class  of 
our  fellow-subjects,  but  it  would  be  extreme  cruelty  to  the  African 
savages,  a  portion  of  whom  it  saves  from  worse  bondage  in  their 
own  country,  and  introduces  into  a  much  happier  state  of  life;  espe 
cially  when  their  passage  to  the  West  Indies  and  their  treatment 
there  is  humanely  regulated.  To  abolish  the  trade  would  be  to  shut 
the  gates  of  mercy  on  mankind.'  And  I  must  add  this :  the  opin 
ions  I  have  heard  from  intelligent  slaves  coincide  with  those  here 
quoted.  Because  some  slave  manacles  were  seen  by  Clarkson  in  a 
Liverpool  shop,  he  decided  at  once  upon  the  inhumanity  of  slavery 
— so  says  Mrs.  Stowe.  Tyrannical  men  and  women  in  Great  Britain 
have  actually  starved  apprentices  to  death — is  apprenticeship  there 
fore  murder  ?  I  trust  no  Englishwoman  can  be  found  willing  to 
bring  such  an  accusation  against  her  people.  Let  us  imagine  two 
brothers  in  this  country  engaged  in  trade :  one  buys  a  plantation, 
with  two  hundred  negroes,  to  raise  cotton,  on  the  Mississippi — the 
other  sets  up  a  mill  to  spin  cotton,  at  Cincinnati.  Trade  is  bad  with 
the  elder  :  he  must  raise  or  buy  corn  and  clothes  to  feed  and  clothe 
his  labourers.  Trade  is  tight  with  the  other:  he  dismisses  his  work- 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL   TEACHING.  321 

people,  who  may  starve  or  perish,  and  there  is  no  law  which  can 
make  him  responsible  for  their  sufferings.  I  will  conclude  this  sub 
ject  with  one  more  anecdote,  for  the  truth  of  which  I  can  vouch.  A 
Southern  lady  and  gentleman  brought  a  mulatto  slave  to  Cincinnati, 
who  there  fell  in  with  some  abolitionists,  and  was  imbued  with  a 
feeling  of  discontent.  Her  master  and  mistress  observing  this,  pro 
ceeded  to  New  York,  where  they  told  the  girl  that  they  did  not 
wish  to  retain  a  servant  against  her  will,  and  giving  her  twenty  dol 
lars,  they  added,  '  Take  this  money  and  your  freedom.'  The  girl 
took  it,  and  went  out.  She  entered  a  theatre,  and  was  told  '  she 
must  go  to  the  entrance  for  coloured  people.'  In  a  church  she  is 
ordered  to  sit.  with  the  blacks.  Trying  for  a  place  in  an  omnibus, 
the  driver  says  it  is  no  place  for  her.  She  hurried  back  to  her  mis 
tress  to  return  the  money,  and  entreated  she  might  be  taken  or  sent 
back  to  that  South  '  where  black  people  are  free.' 

Indianapolis,  May  19. — We  reached  Indianapolis  soon  after  the 
evening  closed  in.  As  hours  are  early  in  this  part  of  the  world,  I 
determined  to  go  to  an  hotel  for  the  night,  so  as  not  to  intrude  on 
my  friends  at  an  inconvenient  time.  This  was  acquiesced  in  by 
Governor  Wright,  who  visited  me  soon  after  my  arrival. 

May  20. — The  Governor  came  early,  and  took  me  to  his  house. 
At  half-past  ten  o'clock  we  went  to  the  Episcopal  church,  where  the 
duty  was  admirably  done  by  a  Mr.  Talbot,  originally  from  Kentucky, 
who  preached  a  sermon,  good  in  matter  as  in  manner.  Dinner  was 
at  one  o'clock,  and  at  two  I  accompanied  the  Governor  to  visit  two 
large  Sunday-schools,  belonging  to  different  denominations.  There 
are  about  fifteen  in  this  town.  They  have  each  a  superintendent ; 
and  young  men  and  women  of  the  various  churches  in  the  place 
give  them  assistance.  In  England  we  might  take  example  by  the 
wisdom  here  which  limits  Sunday-school  attendance  to  one  hour, 
and  leaves  the  place  and  period  of  Divine  worship  to  be  regulated 
by  the  parents.  If  the  teaching  at  school  is  not  such  as  to  induce 
the  children  to  go  willingly  to  church,  a  forced  going  will  not  bene 
fit  their  religious  feelings ;  and  too  often  the  fatigued,  bored  appear 
ance  of  Sabbath-school  children  in  our  churches  is  a  sad  commen- 
15 


322  AN    EXPECTANT    MILLENARIAN. 

tary  upon  the  want  of  judgment  evinced  by  the  British  public  in 
this  matter.  The  Sunday  is  kept  at  Indianapolis  with  Presbyterian 
strictness.  No  trains  start,  letters  do  not  go,  nor  are  they  received, 
so  that  a  father,  mother,  husband,  or  wife  may  be  in  extremity,  and 
have  no  means  of  communicating  their  farewells  or  last  wishes  if 
Sunday  intervenes.  Surely  this  is  making  man  subordinate  to  the 
Sabbath — not  the  Sabbath  to  man.  I  have  been  amused  at  a  story 
told  me  of  an  inhabitant  of  this  place.  The  Millenarian  doctrine 
has  been  rife  here ;  all  through  America  fanatics  have  lately  spread 
an  idea  that  sublunary  matters  were  to  close  yesterday,  May  19.  A 
man  not  usually  inclined  to  intemperate  habits,  called  at  a  store  as 
the  day  waned,  and  requested  a  mug  of  porter  to  support  his  spirits 
through  the  expected  catastrophe.  Time  wore  on — still  the  elements 
looked  calm.  'It  wont  be  over  yet  awhile;  I  must  have  another 
glass.  'Tis  very  depressing  to  have  to  wait  so  long  ;  give  me  some 
more  drink.'  This  continued  till  the  poor  frightened  soul  became 
dead  drunk  ;  and  he  was  much  surprised  next  morning  to  find  the 
world  going  on  much  as  usual — with  the  exception  of  his  aching 
head. 

May  21. — Governor  Wright  invited  me  to  accompany  him  in  a 
morning  walk  at  sunrise — four  o'clock.  I  had  some  letters  to  write 
previously,  but  by  five  we  perambulated  parts  of  the  town,  which  is 
peculiarly  laid  out ;  the  Court,  or  rather  Government-house  being  in 
the  centre  (and  it  is  said  also  the  centre  of  the  Union ;  but  that  can 
only  be  a  temporary  centre,  for  this  place  lies  eastward  of  the  middle 
of  the  continent) ;  and  all  the  streets  converging  towards  it. 

I  occupied  this  morning  in  arranging  my  dried  specimens  of 
plants,  which  occasionally  require  attention.  We  dined  at  one 
o'clock,  and  Mrs.  "Wright,  at  present  an  invalid,  was  sufficiently  re 
covered  to  join  us  at  table.  After  dinner  I  was  happy  to  see  Judge 
Maclean,  whom  I  knew  at  Washington ;  he  is  come  to  hold  a  court ; 
and  Governor  Powell,  of  Kentucky,  is  also  expected  to-morrow.  The 
Governor  took  Mr.  Maclean  and  me  a  drive  to  see  the  Asylums  for 
the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  and  for  the  Blind  of  this  State.  They  are  both 
fine  institutions,  paid  for  by  the  people  through  special  taxes,  imposed 


DEMOCRACY    AND    DESPOTISM.  323 

for  the  purpose,  and  paid  ungrudgingly.  They  have  sufficient 
ground  attached  for  out-of-door  occupations  and  exercise.  The  deaf 
and  dumb  make  shoes  and  bonnets,  farm,  <fec.,  so  as  to  acquire  a 
knowledge  which  enables  them  to  gain  their  future  livelihood :  and 
the  girls  are  taught  to  be  sempstresses,  washerwomen,  cooks,  &c. 
Such  charities  should  always  be  situated  in  the  country ;  town  life 
cuts  off  the  most  necessary  and  advantageous  means  of  training  the 
inmates  to  healthful  and  useful  pursuits. 

From  the  cupola  of  the  Asylum  for  the  Blind  the  view  is  wide. 
These  extensive  plains  of  the  West  extend  one  thousand  miles  in  the 
direction  of  Canada,  and  as  far  towards  the  Rocky  Mountains.  There 
is  one  height  or  bluff  about  fifteen  miles  off,  which  I  must  go  and 
look  at.  Indiana  produces  freestone,  coal,  and  iron.  The  Wabash, 
about  sixty  miles  from  hence,  is  the  most  considerable  river.  Before 
we  left  the  Asylum,  some  of  the  blind  pupils  sang  quartettes  and 
duets,  accompanied  by  one  of  their  number  on  the  piano.  They 
sang  in  tune  and  with  good  taste. 

I  have  heard  much  of  Democracy  and  Equality  since  I  came  to 
the  United  States,  and  I  have  seen  more  evidences  of  Aristocracy 
and  Despotism  than  it  has  before  been  my  fortune  to  meet  with. 
The  '  Know-nothings,'  and  the  *  Abolitionists,'  and  the  '  Mormonites ' 
are,  in  my  opinion,  consequent  upon  the  mammonite,  extravagant 
pretensions  and  habits  which  are  really  fashionable  among  Pseudo- 
Republicans.  Two  hundred  thousand  starving  Irish  have  come  to 
this  country,  and  in  their  ignorance  they  assume  the  airs  of  that 
equality  which  they  have  been  induced  to  believe  is  really  belonging 
to  American  society.  They  endeavour  to  reduce  to  practice  the 
sentiment  so  popular  here — but  no — that  will  never  do.  Ladies 
don't  like  their  helps  to  say  they  *  choose  to  sit  in  the  parlour,  or 
they  wont  help  them  at  all,  for  equality  is  the  rule  here.'  Mrs.  So- 
and-so  of  the  'Codfish'  Aristocracy  doesn't  like  to  have  Lady  Any 
thing  to  take  precedence  of  her ;  but  Betty  choosing  to  play  at 
equality  is  quite  another  thing !  Now  at  Indianapolis  I  have  found 
something  like  consistency,  for  the  first  time  since  I  came  this  side 
the  Atlantic.  I  do  not  assert  there  is  equality,  for  the  simple  reason 


324  A  GOVERNOR'S  LEVEE. 

that  it  is  not  in  nature ;  and  (as  Lord  Tavistock  once  so  well  said), 
'the  love  of  liberty  is  virtue,  but  the  love  of  equality  is  pride;'  but 
here,  the  Governor  of  the  State  is  a  man  of  small  income ;  his-  salary 
is  only  fifteen  hundred  dollars:  he  has  really  put  aside  money- 
making,  and  his  son,  an  amiable  young  man,  instead  of  wasting  his 
time  in  rioting  and  drunkenness  (which,  alas !  is  too  much  the  case 
with  the  sons  of  the  '  Aristocracy '  in  the  United  States),  keeps  a 
store  to  make  his  own  fortune,  and,  as  he  nobly  said  yesterday,  to 
provide  for  that  father  who  has  disdained  to  sacrifice  his  country  to 
himself.  Governor  Wright  did  not  think  it  a  degradation  to  carry 
a  basket  when  I  accompanied  him  to  the  market  this  morning,  and 
his  whole  demeanour  is  that  of  a  consistent  Republican.  I  do  not 
care  what  a  man's  political  creed  may  be  (though  I  much  prefer  the 
monarchical  principles  of  old  England),  but  I  do  admire  consistency ; 
and  I  consider  the  'Know-nothing'  movement  as  a  consequence  of 
uncertain  principles.  • 

May  22. — This  day  Governor  Powell  of  Kentucky  came  on  a 
visit  here.  He  was  in  Canada  two  years  since,  and  he  spoke  with 
admiration  of  Lord  Elgin,  and  of  his  manner  of  conducting  the  affairs 
of  that  Colony.  The  heat  has  suddenly  become  intense ;  to  my 
feelings  as  hot  as  any  day  we  had  in  Cuba.  At  last  I  conclude  that 
winter  has  really  given  up  our  company,  after  returning  to  it  so 
frequently,  that  I  feel  as  if  I  had  passed  three  winters  and  three 
summers  in  America. 

May  23. — I  went  at  five  o'clock  this  morning  to  the  Eastern 
market-place,  where  I  first  saw  squirrels  sold  like  rabbits  for  the  table 
ready  skinned.  When  dressed,  they  are  exactly  like  young  chickens. 
I  believe  it  is  the  grey  squirrel.  This  evening  the  Governor  had 
what  is  now  in  the  States  universally  called  a  levee  ;  after  the  same 
fashion  as  the  President's  receptions.  Governors  of  individual  States 
occasionally  open  their  doors  to  all  the  citizens  who  choose  to  attend, 
and  it  is  considered  a  compliment  to  stranger  guests  like  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Kentucky  and  myself,  that  the  attendance  should  be  good; 
so  the  rooms  here  were  filled.  The  Governor  and  his  lady  do  not 
receive  their  visitors,  but  we  all  went  into  the  room  after  they  had 


THE    STONE    MOUNTAIN.  325 

assembled.  No  refreshments  are  expected  on  these  occasions,  but 
every  one  shakes  hands  upon  being  introduced.  The  assemblage  was 
very  respectable  and  orderly ;  it  concluded  about  eleven  o'clock, 
having  begun  at  nine. 

May  24. — I  went  to  see  a  Devonshire  man  and  his  wife,  who 
have  a  vineyard :  they  have  been  settled  here  twenty  years,  and  are 
natives  of  Dartmouth  ;  they  look  back  to  the  old  country  with  regret, 
and  think  they  might  have  done  as  well  there  as  here  ;  though  they 
have  a  cottage  with  an  acre  of  ground  their  own  property,  and  a 
married  son  and  daughter  doing  well,  but  poor  people.  Their 
youngest  boy  is  an  inmate  of  the  Indiana  Lunatic  Asylum.  Mrs. 

N was  brought  up  in  the  family  of  the  lady  who  nursed  the 

Duchess  of  Gloucester,  and  remembers  helping  to  make  a  cradle  for 
the  Princess  Amelia.  She  was  much  delighted  to  find  that  I  knew 

Miss  A .  We  spoke  much  of  England ;  I  told  her  she  was  now 

adopted  by  this  country,  and  that  with  her  family  here,  it  was  wrong 
to  hanker  so  much  after  that  of  her  birth. 

Mr.  N buries  his  vines  in  the  ground,  as  soon  as  the  wood 

has  hardened,  during  the  cold  months  of  the  year.  I  wonder 
whether  this  plan  would  make  the  vine  more  prolific  in  the  open  air 
with  us. 

Mrs.  Wright  gave  an  evening  party  of  invited  acquaintances ;  a 
great  many  agreeable  people  from  this  and  the  adjoining  State.  One 
lady  sang  some  of  Moore's  Melodies  very  sweetly  ;  but,  as  yet,  music 
is  not  much  cultivated  in  America :  either  the  ladies  do  not  devote 
sufficient  attention  to  it,  or  there  are  not  good  masters.  This  is 
almost  the  first  time  I  have  heard  an  American  sing  with  taste  and 
expression.  This  party  did  not  conclude  before  midnight. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  Stone  Mountain  to  gentlemen,  engineers, 
professors,  and  military  men ;  but  the  gigantic  precipice,  and  the 
curious  geological  facts  of  that  elevation  seem  quite  unknown  to  any 
of  them  ;  as  yet  they  do  not  appear  to  have  attracted  the  notice  of 
scientific  men.  I  imagine  that  the  tabular  masses  spread  upon  the 
rising  ground  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley  beneath  the  precipi 
tous  wall,  must  be  the  debris  of  that  part  of  the  mountain  which  fell 


326  THE    BLUFFS    OF    THE    WHITE    RIVER. 

away  upon  the  upheavement  of  the  mass  in  an  almost  fluid  state — 
at  least  this  is  the  idea  suggested  by  its  appearances.  I  hope  some 
one  more  able  to  understand  it  than  1  am,  will  visit  the  place,  and 
decide  how  far  my  supposition  is  probable. 

I  am  told  the  thermometer  stood1  at  ninety-two  degrees  in  the 
shade  the  day  before  yesterday,  and  the  weather  continues  very  hot, 
but  there  is  now  rather  more  air.  Last  night  a  naval  gentleman  told 
me  that  part  of  an  iron  fastening  belonging  to  a  ship  had  been  found 
half  embedded  in  a  mass  of  iron,  which  had  been  supposed  an  aerolite, 
lying  on  a  prairie  in  this  country.  From  this  fact  a  very  modern 
origin  for  the  locality  is  deduced,  because  it  is  concluded  that  a  mass 
of  the  kind  in  question  must  originally  have  been  left  by  an  iceberg. 
I  mention  this  as  it  was  named  to  me,  without  pretending  to  decide 
upon  the  truth  of  the  matter. 

Thursday,  Mrs.  Wright  gave  an  invited  reception,  with  a  stand 
ing  supper.  All  went  off  well,  and  I  saw  the  principal  people  of  In 
dianapolis.  Next  morning  I  drove  with  a  young  lady  to  see  what  are 
called  the  Bluffs  of  the  White  River,  sixteen  miles  distance.  I  was 
surprised  to  find  that  the  road  there  was  by  no  means  what  we  should 
call  a  plain,  it  was  rather  a  series  of  continued  low  elevations,  and 
many  short  but  steep  hills  mark  the  road.  It  passes  through  a 
pretty  country,  bordered  by  farms,  and  watered  by  small  streams, 
making  their  way  to  the  White  River,  which  attended  our  drive 
within  a  short  distance.  *  The  Bluff '  proved  to  be  a  rather  higher 
hill  than  others,  overlooking  the  river  and  thickly  timbered,  but  with 
out  a  rock  of  any  kind.  I  found  the  large  leaved  blood-wort,  the 
May  apple,  and  a  pretty  red  columbine,  growing  plentifully  in  soil 
formed  by  the  dead  leaves  of  a  thousand  autumns.  The  inmates  of 
a  pretty  farm  near  at  hand  gave  us  hospitality  and  a  share  of  their 
dinner,  while  our  coachman  acted  as  guide,  and  entered  into  my 
botanical  researches  with  great  interest.  We  made  our  way  over  the 
hill  down  to  the  river  bank,  where  we  saw  the  laborious  but  useless 
works  for  the  formation  of  a  canal,  entered  into  by  the  State  at  an 
outlay  of  hundred  thousands  of  dollars  just  before  railways  were  put 


ENGLISH   ARISTOCRACY. 


327 


into  action,  and  abandoned  in  consequence.  The  small  town  of  Wa- 
verly  is  situated  a  mile  beyond  the  hill  we  came  to  visit.  Our  drive 
home  was  a  ch511y  one.  The  thermometer  has  again  descended  be 
low  50°.  These  sudden  changes  from  intense  heat  to  cold  are  much 
greater  than  those  we  have  in  England. 

Saturday  and  Sunday  were  very  cold,  with  slight  showers.     It  is 
supposed  much  rain  has  fallen  in  other  parts  of  the  State ;  a  most 
acceptable  conclusion  of  the  long  drought,  which  has  excited  much 
alarm  for  the  fate  of  the  crops.     There  are  two  well  conducted  news 
papers  in  this  town,  but  they  fall  into  the  same  error  (which  is  almost 
general  in  the  press  through  the  States),  that  of  attacking  the  institu 
tions  and  the  character  of  the  Parent  State,  in  a  tone  both  virulent  and 
unjust ;  and  this  I  am  sorry  to  say  is  not  so  much  the  practice  of  na 
tive  Americans  as  of  editors   born  in  England ;  even  those  whose 
parents  look  back  with  love  and  veneration  to  the  country  they  have  left ; 
and,  in  one  instance,  though  their  son  is  a  powerful,  a  moral,  and  usually 
a  conscientious  writer,  yet  is  his  pen  dipped  in  the  gall  of  bitterness 
whenever  it  approaches  subjects  which  touch  upon  Great  Britain. 
He  forgets,  or  in  his  ignorance  he  does  not  know,  when  echoing  vul 
gar  abuse  of  the  Old  Land  and  the  English  aristocracy,  that,  as  a 
whole,  they  give  an  example  of  energy  in  action,   and  simplicity  in 
manner,  which  might  well  be  copied  here.     British  distinctions  are 
not  derived  solely  from  mammon,  therefore  mammon  is  not  the  sole 
god  of  their  idolatry.     Individuals  are  not  valued  and  j  udged  in  Eng 
land  (as  is  too  generally  the  case  in  America)  by  the  satin  they  may 
have  upon  their  backs,  or  the  dollars  that  chink  in  their  pockets ;  but 
each  individual,  in  fact,  is  appreciated  according  to  his  intrinsic  qual 
ities.     Those  who  know  the  old  country  best  will  admit  that  the  in 
fluence  attached  to  the  respective  grades  of  society  is  lost  by  those 
whose  habits  are  unworthy  ;  while,  on  the  other  side,  men  like  Hugh 
Miller,  and  others  who  could  be  pointed  out,  are  not  precluded  from 
the  highest  distinctions  if  they  earn  them.     Yet  such  paragraphs  as 
these  have  been  going  the  round  of  the  United  States'  papers: — '  The 
meanest   aristocracy   is  that  of  birth;   it  ignores    intellect,   ener- 


328  THE    TEMPERANCE    LEGISLATURE. 

gy,  courage,  and  good  deeds ;  it  demoralizes  Government,  defeats 
armies,  and  disgraces  manhood.  If  there  were  no  aristocracy  of  birth 
in  England,  great  men  would  have  risen  from  the  ranks  to  lead  the 
British  army  in  triumph,'  &c.,  &c.,  &c.  Do  these  Democrats  not 
know  that  the  English  people  have  no  wish  to  see  their  army,  like 
that  of  France,  the  chief  aristocracy  of  the  land  ?  I  should  be  sorry 
ifthe  time  came  when  the  sword  alone  should  be  permitted  to  hew 
its  way  to  the  principal  distinctions  of  England.  Now,  a  man  may 
rise  more  easily  in  the  law,  the  church,  the  literary,  or  even  the  ar 
tistic  path,  than  in  that  of  the  soldier.  Let  our  young  men  of  fortune 
still  buy  their  commissions,  and  place  themselves  under  strict  disci 
pline,  and  then  occasionally,  by  succession,  a  poor  man  derives  the 
benefit ;  but  never  let  the  brave  aspiring  English  peasant  know  that 
his  strong  arm  and  great  heart  are  the  means  by  which  he  may  most 
easily  acquire  a  marshal's  baton,  a  ducal  coronet,  for  then  a  military 
despotism  may  one  of  these  days  supplant  the  freest  Constitution  in 
the  world.  The  press  of  the  United  States  is  fond  of  calling  names : 
'  British  Flunkeyism,'  *  Mock  Emperor,'  '  Mock  Representation/ 
Americans  have  chosen  their  forms  of  Government — the  best,  pro 
bably,  for  a  young  rising  people.  Let  them  be  content  with  their 
own,  without  abusing  that  of  their  mother  land  ',  but  there  are  signs 
in  the  horizon  which  foretell  that  their  Government  may  not  stand 
the  test  of  centuries.  I  copy  from  American  papers  that  '  Judge 

C ,  for  several  years  occupying  the  position  of  Associate-Judge, 

and  having  held  other  offices  of  honour  and  profit  as  an  old  and  influ 
ential  citizen  of  Harding  County,  has  been  arrested  for  counterfeiting ! ' 
And  these  prohibitory  liquor-laws,  which  the  local  legislatures  have 
been  so  busy  in  enacting  !  What  would  be  thought  in  England  of 
legislators  who  now  drink  more  liquor  than  '  was  drank  by  that  legis 
lator  who  passed  the  prohibitory  law.' 

The  Temperance  Legislature  of  New  York,  while  on  a  visit  to 
that  city,  got  on  a  *  drunken  spree,  and  broke  up  in  a  row  ! '  Of 
course,  in  these  remarks  I  am  not  alluding  to  the  intelligent  and 
really  distinguished  men  of  America, — men  who  have  crossed  the 


BRIBERY.  329 

Atlantic,  and  made  themselves  acquainted  with  English  institutions 
and  English  manners.  No  people  are  more  fond  of  titles  than 
Americans  when  they  can  get  hold  of  them.  '  Generals '  and 
*  Judges '  and  '  Colonels  '  are  plentiful  as  blackberries.  Mere  boys 
assume  these  appellations  often  without  much  claim  to  them ;  and 
every  member  of  Congress  expects  to  be  addressed  in  society  as 
4  Honourable.'  Our  members  of  Parliament  are  satisfied  to  be  so 
designated  in  the  House  itself,  but  do  not  claim  the  title  out  of  doors. 
Yet,  I  should  be  sorry  to  hear  even  a  suspicion  attached  to  the 
name  of  any  individual  belonging  to  our  legislative  bodies,  of  such 
gross  derelictions  from  duty  and  honesty  as  are  not  uncommon 
among  the  *  Honourable '  members  of  the  United  States  Congress. 

Washington  is  a  very  sink  of  corruption.  Those  who  know  the 
place  cannot  deny  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  gentlemen  (and 
ladies,  too)  assembled  there  at  one  period  of  the  year  are  open  to 
bribery,  and  that  Bills  to  put  the  almighty  dollars  into  certain 
pockets,  have  been  got  through  by  the  aid  of  establishments  open 
to  certain  people,  liberally  supplied  with  liquors  and  gaming  tables, 
and  that  when  people  have  lost  money,  purses  have  been  at  their 
disposal,  of  course  with  the  understanding  that  their  votes  went  in  the 
right  direction.  Can  anything  of  political  profligacy  be  raked  out 
of  the  faults  of  the  old  country  to  match  this  ?  or  can  the  worst  in 
ventions  of  the  English  press  equal  the  assertion,  that  John  Bull 
publicly  rejoiced  over  the  death  of  the  Czar,  and  that  the  British 
are  a  '  nation  of  brutes  ? '  No  individual  or  people  can  claim  the 
merit  of  perfectibility,  and  I  should  not  point  out  the  blots  in  the 
American  escutcheon  if  they  were  not  inclined  to  be  too  busy  in 
falsely  bespattering  those  of  their  neighbours. 

An  electric  despatch  invites  me  to  attend  the  wedding  of  two  young- 
friends  at  Albany,  and  particular  circumstances  make  this  invitation 
imperative.  So  for  the  present,  at  any  rate,  I  must  give  up  my 
intended  visit  to  the  Prairies  of  Ohio  and  Illinois.  By  taking  the 
early  train  to-morrow,  I  can  reach  New  York  State  in  time,  and  al 
low  for  a  few  hours'  visit  to  Dr.  Kirtland,  at  Cleveland,  who  has 
15* 


330  CONCLUSION. 

been  ill,  and  cannot  meet  me  as  he  proposed  to  do.     I  close  this 
packet  here,  and  let  it  go  by  the  first  opportunity. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 
Indianapolis,  May^  27. 


P.S.  —  This  rambling  epistle  is  hastily  sent  off,  and  I  will  write 
again  from  Albany. 


*   **  *r 


_  _ 

'^  y  ^  l£  ^     ^  ^ 


LETTER  XXYII. 


ALBANY,  May  13, 1855. 
MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  left  Indianapolis  early  on  Monday  last,  slept  at  Cleveland, 
and  spent  a  few  hours  with  Dr.  Kirtland  at  Rock  Point,  which  hours  I 
cut  off  the  time  necessary  for  my  journey  by  travelling  all  night. 
I  hope  this  will  be  my  last  night's  work  during  the  remainder  of 
my  stay  in  America,  for  it  is  a  very  disagreeable  business.  The 
wedding  of  my  young  American  friends  will  take  place  to-morrow, 
and  then  I  shall  be  able  to  decide  whether  there  is  any  chance  of 
my  being  able  to  accomplish  the  tours  in  the  Adirondack  and  the 
Prairies  which  were  planned  last  year. 

May  31. — While  at  breakfast  yesterday  morning  I  received  an 
invitation  from  the  two  Bishops  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  to 
accompany  them  to  the  consecration  of  a  new  church  at  Troy.  Miss 

P was  so  obliging  as  to  come  for  me.     We  followed  a  beautiful 

line  of  railway  for  about  an  hour.  In  the  society  of  two  of  the  most 
distinguished  and  excellent  men  in  the  United  States,  I  enjoyed  this 
drive.  The  little  Gothic  church  is  almost  perfect  in  style  and  taste,  and 
although  strictly  architectural  externally,  as  well  as  internally,  it  is 
original  in  design.  Every  seat  was  occupied,  and  a  finer  sermon 
than  that  preached  by  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  for  such  an  occa 
sion,  I  never  heard — equally  good  in  matter  as  in  manner.  There 


332  TICONDEROGA. 

were  several  clergy  who  took  part  in  the  service.  We  had  the 
Hundredth  Psalm  congregationally  sung,  and  the  Halleluja  Chorus 
well  played ;  if  a  theatrical  kind  of  anthem  had  not  been  inserted 
between  them,  the  music  would  have  been  as  satisfactory  as  the 
other  arrangements,  excepting  that  the  service  was  rather  too  long. 

We  afterwards  lunched  at  the  house  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T ,  and  did 

not  get  back  to  Albany  till  six  in  the  afternoon.  The  wedding  cere 
mony,  which  took  place  about  nine  o'clock  the  same  evening,  was 
performed  by  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  presence  of  a  large 
party.  This  is  the  fifth  marriage  I  have  attended  in  America.  I 
cannot  resist  a  kind  proposal  of  the  Bishop's,  that  I  should  accom 
pany  him  and  Mrs.  Potter  through  a  visitation  tour  in  some  of  the 
most  beautiful  parts  of  his  diocese.  I  shall  join  them  in  Philadel 
phia  the  6th  instant.  Whether  the  Adirondack  and  the  Prairies  will 
also  be  comprised,  I  'cannot  yet  tell.  Letters  await  me  at  New 
York.  I  have  had  so  few  from  home  these  last  three  months  that 
I  am  very  anxious.  I  was  roused  by  a  great  noise  made  by  men  in 
the  house  at  three  o'clock  this  morning.  Americans  do  not  seem  to 
have  the  least  idea  of  considering  the  comfort  or  the  slumbers  of 
other  travellers  in  an  hotel,  if  it  please  them  to  make  an  uproar  dur 
ing  the  night.  I  heard  corks  drawing,  and  as  the  Maine  law  has 
been  introduced  into  Albany  since  Mr.  Seymour's  government,  I 
suppose  that  day  abstinence  is  made  up  for  by  night  jollity. 

Albany,  June  4. — I  have  been  resting  and  preparing  for  a  fresh 

start  the  Gth.     I  shall  leave  R with  friends  here,  and  be  quite 

independent  of  all  but  my  episcopal  guides,  for  Bishop  Potter  has 
engaged  to  give  me  over  to  the  care  of  his  brother  of  New  York, 
somewhere  on  the  borders  of  Lake  Champlain,  the  last  week  of 
this  month.  I  wish  to  see  Ticonderoga,  where  my  mother's  father, 
General  Grant,  took  the  42nd  Highlanders  (a  regiment  he  first 
raised)  into  battle  eight  hundred  strong  and  came  out  two  hundred  ! 
— a  Balaclava  in  its  way.  The  sermon  of  the  Scotch  previously  is 
worth  recording :  '  My  lads,  I  hae  nae  time  for  lang  preachments,  a' 
I  hae  to  say  is,  nae  cowards  gae  to  Heaven ;  and  if  ye  dinna  kill 
them  they'll  kill  you.'  I  visited  Dr.  and  Mrs.  H 's  pretty  cot- 


GIRARD    COLLEGE.  333 

tage,  and  dined  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall,  the  evening  before  I  left 
Albany  to  join  the  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Potter  at  Philadelphia. 

june  6.— I  set  out  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  reached 
New  York  about  half-past  nine.  I  remained  at  the  St.  Nicholas 
hotel  till  six  in  the  evening,  and  saw  there  Governor  Seymour  and 
Sir  Charles  Grey,  who  soon  returns  to  England.  By  the  mail  train, 
after  a  disagreeable  journey,  owing  to  tipsy  rowdies  being  in  the 
same  cars,  I  reached  the  Pier  House,  Philadelphia,  at  half-past  nine 
o'clock.  This  town  looks  to  much  greater  advantage,  now  the  trees 
which  border  the  streets  are  in  leaf.  After  walking  about  all  the 
morning,  weather  damp  and  showery,  so  violent  a  thunder-storm  came 
on  in  the  afternoon,  rain  pouring  down  in  spouts,  and  from  one 
house  the  water  falling  from  the  rough  tiles  in  so  heavy  a  cascade, 
that  it  seemed  as  if  a  river  had  suddenly  burst  from  the  skies.  I 
never  saw  rain  in  Europe  like  this. 

june  g. — Mr.  S was  so  obliging  as  to  take  me  to  the  Kensing 
ton  end  of  Philadelphia  to  call  upon  Mrs.  R ,  a  Quaker  lady,  to  whom 

I  was  introduced  at  Washington,  but  she  was  on  a  tour  in  Kentucky. 
In  this  quarter  of  the  town  I  saw  a  simple  monument,  erected  on  the 
spot  where  William  Penn  made  his  compact  with  the  Indians, 
*  The  only  treaty  ever  made  without  oaths,  and  the  only  one  which 
was  never  violated.' 

The  local  Government  have  purchased  ground  to  make  an  open 
square  here.  We  afterwards  visited  Mr.  Girard's  College  for  the 
nurture  and  education  of  boys,  without  reference  to  the  religious 
persuasions  of  their  parents.  I  understand  the  children  are  reli 
giously  and  morally  brought  up,  but  a  particular  clause  in  the  will 
forbids  the  entrance  of  any  clergyman  into  the  building.  It  is  a  fine 
erection;  the  pediment  supports  gigantic  Corinthian  columns,  the 
roof  being  entirely  marble ;  such  was  the  weight,  that  rows  of 
parallel  brick  arches  were  erected,  a  few  feet  only  apart  from  the 
supports.  I  went  to  the  top.  It  is  made  for  eternity,  and  is  a  mag 
nificent  specimen  of  architectural  skill.  Inmates  may  be  received 
from  New  Orleans  as  well  as  Philadelphia,  because  the  former  was 
the  first  port  to  which  the  founder  had  a  venture ;  his  trade  was 


334  A    COAL   DISTRICT. 

principally  with  China,  and  it  was  in  Philadelphia  his  fortune  (the 
whole  of  which  is  devoted  to  this  College)  was  made.  He  left  di 
rections  in  an  elaborate  will,  that  all  articles  of  household  furniture, 
and  even  his  wearing  apparel,  should  be  preserved ;  the  latter,  books, 
china,  &c.,  are  in  glass  cases.  If  the  same  funds  had  been  left  for 
educational  purposes,  there  would  have  been  less  glorification  of  the 
founder,  but  greater  results. 

Afterwards  I  went  to  the  Museum,  where  there  is  one  of  the 
finest  ornithological  collections  in  the  world,  fossils,  and  a  most 
curious  collection  of  shells,  upon  which  an  elaborate  work,  entitled 
Types  of  Mankind,  was  founded.  I  understand  the  book  is  written 
in  a  scoffing  and  offensive  style,  attacking  the  Bible  under  the  influ 
ence  of  strong  prejudice ;  but  that  it  contains  valuable  facts :  a  habit 
among  religious  people  of  making  the  truth  of  the  sacred  Scriptures 
to  depend  upon  their  own  narrow  views,  has  but  too  frequently  ar 
rayed  the  discoveries  of  science,  and  the  visible  works  of  the  Creator, 
in  opposition  to  that  written  word  with  which  (properly  understood) 
they  never  have  been,  and  never  can  be,  otherwise  than  in  accord 
ance. 

At  the  Reading  Station  I  joined  the  Bishop  and  Mrs.  P , 

with  their  party  of  travellers ;  in  all  seven ;  among  them  a  lady  and 
gentleman  with  whom  I  dined  at  Baltimore.  The  railroad  crosses 
and  recrosses  the  River  Schuylkill,  a  pretty  course,  until  we  arrived 
at  the  hotel  at  Mount  Carbon,  near  Pottsville,  a  picturesque  situa 
tion.  I  was  out  at  six  o'clock  next  .morning  to  put  a  recollection 
into  my  sketch-book ;  after  breakfast  we  all  went  on  delightful  rail 
way  excursions  in  a  small  car  belonging  to  the  directors,  up  to  the 
first  coal  mines  of  this  mining  country,  through  which  the  Bishop  is 
making  his  visitation.  Nothing  could  be  more  interesting  than  its 
geological  features,  particularly  to  a  person  but  little  acquainted  with 
the  history  of  coal.  It  lies  very  near  the  surface  in  extensive  basins 
— an  anthracite  of  the  most  brilliant  exterior,  which,  after  being 
created,  has  apparently  (for  the  purpose  of  rendering  it  more  ac 
cessible),  been  heaved  up  and  dislocated  by  the  protrusion  from  be 
neath  of  conglomerate  rocks  thrown  up  in"  strata,  sometimes  per- 


'/  h*. 


TRAVELLING   BY   GRAVITATION.  335 

fectly  vertical.  This  operation  has  been  repeated  over  and  over 
again  through  the  district  we  are  visiting,  with  overwhelming  evi 
dence  of  design. 

In  the  shale  above,  we  found  the  usual  carboniferous  fossils,  and 
below  red  sandstone.  '  All  this  goes  on  through  Pottsville,  Tus- 
carora,  Tamaqua,  and  to  Summit,  one  of  the  highest  situations, 
where  we  slept  the  second  night.  From  thence,  early  on  Sunday 
morning,  we  whirled  down  an  inclined  plane  by  gravity  alone? 
about  nine  miles,  in  a  little  open  car,  to  Mauch  Chunk  (fat  bear  in 
the  Indian  language),  a  place  set  deep  among  the  hills  by  the  rapid 
dashing  Lehigh,  reminding  me  of  Schalenbad,  near  Frankfort,  in 
Germany,  but  much  more  beautiful.  Instead  of  wood  slides  down 
the  mountains,  here  the  locomotives  rise  up,  dragging  long  trains  of 
coal  waggons  on  ascents  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  with  a  rise  of  fifteen 
hundred  feet.  Yvre  mounted  the  highest,  and  descended  by  curves 
and  gravity  a  distance  of  sixteen  miles.  I  was  ashamed  to  shrink 
from  the  excursion;  but  I  must  confess  that  terror  and  anxiety 
mastered  enjoyment  with  me,  the  whole  proceeding  was  so  novel 
and  terrific.  Long  practice  must  be  necessary  to  convince  a  mind 
of  its  security.  I  heard  Bishop  Potter  catechise  the  children  in 
church,  concisely,  but  most  effectively ;  and  after  morning  service, 
and  an  excellent  sermon,  he  confirmed  a  lady  and  gentleman  of  ma 
ture  age.  Baptisms  and  confirmations  of  grown  up  people  are  com 
mon  in  this  country.  The  episcopal  church  is  increasing  rapidly, 
and  at  this  place  (Scranton),  from  which  I  now  write,  where  the 
English  and  Welsh  miners  are  numerous,  I  am  told  the  people 
evince  great  attachment  to  it.  The  general  affection  for  their 
bishop,  and  his  worthiness,  must  tend  much  to  strengthen  this 
feeling. 

"We  remained  two  days  at  Wilkesbarre,  a  town  on  the  Susque- 
hanna  River,  in  the  Valley  of  Wyoming;  coal-fields  surrounding  it 
in  every  direction,  and,  as  at  Manchester,  descending  planes  of  rail 
roads  carrying  off  the  produce  on  one  side,  water  carriage  taking  it 
away  the  other,  and  the  neighbourhood  so  beautiful  that  volumes  of 
sketches  might  be  made  here.  We  visited  a  valley  about  two  miles 


336  GEOLOGICAL   RICHES. 

distant,  where  coal  excavations,  now  deserted  by  the  Baltimore 
company,  resemble  the  openings  of  Egyptian  tombs,  and  the  en 
trances  going  straight  into  the  mountain,  are  like  vast  halls  sup 
ported  by  massive  pillars  of  coal.  I  think  there  are  more  English 
settled  in  these  mining  districts  of  Pennsylvania  than  in  any  part  of 
the  United  States  I  have  visited — more  born  English,  I  mean.  I 
have  before  seen  hordes  of  Irish,  but  English  sparely  scattered ;  here 
the  Irish  are  in  the  minority.  Those  I  have  talked  with  say  they 
are  physically  comfortable,  and  they  do  not  dislike  their  new  coun 
try  ;  but  they  still  prefer  the  old  one— they  do  not  think  that  prac 
tically  there  is  more  liberty  here  than  in  England;  and  an  old 
soldier  told  me,  in  his  opinion,  the  men  in  authority  here  '  are  not 
as  fitting  for  to  bear  rule  as  them  with  us.' 

We  are  now  at  Scranton ;  here  iron  is  plentiful,  and  found  in 
juxtaposition  with  the  coal.  The  railway  bars  are  manufactured 
and  laid  down  at  once,  transmuted  from  the  surrounding  rocks,  and 
made  the  means  of  conveying  their  own  treasures !  It  has  been 
said  '  an  undevout  astronomer  is  mad,'  surely  here  one  is  made  to 
say  *  an  undevout  geologist  must  be  insane ! ' 

I  am  in  hopes  this  ugly  name  of  Scranton  may  be  changed  to 
that  of  Lackawanna,  the  Indian  appellation  for  a  lovely  valley,  which 
terminates  the  coal  region  on  this  side.  I  am  now  (June  16th) 
writing  from  a  town  called  Montrose,  situated  in  the  northern  part 
of  Pennsylvania ;  it  is  a  very  elevated  situation.  We  rose  a  hill  for 
some  distance.  The  railway  had  conducted  us  about  forty  miles 
from  Scranton ;  our  way  followed  the  course  of  a  deep  glen,  much 
resembling  Glen  Tilt,  in  Blair  Athol,  and  we  are  hospitably  received 
at  the  house  of  a  gentleman  here. 

Montrose,  June  17. — After  Morning  Service  the  Bishop's  duties 
took  us  to  the  house  of  a  gentleman  and  lady,  near  Springfield  ;  and 
I  do  not  think  I  was  ever  more  interested  by  any  religious  services 
than  there.  A  country  church,  which  probably  accommodated 
from  two  to  three  hundred  people,  was  filled  to  overflowing  by  a 
respectable  looking  congregation,  of  which  the  majority  were  men. 
After  an  excellent  sermon,  touching  upon  the  dangers,  particularly 


NOVEL    CHURN.  33*7 

imminent  in  thriving  communities,  of  the  prevalence  of  a  mammon- 
ite  covetous  spirit,  the  Bishop  gave  a  short  and  simple  explanation 
of  the  reasons  which  make  confirmation  a  rite  of  the  episcopal  com 
munion,  preparatory  to  the  reception  of  seven  candidates ;  one  a 
venerable  looking  old  man,  and  the  other  six  considerably  past 
youth.  The  whole  congregation  remained  as  witnesses,  wrapt  in 
mute  attention  ;  the  ceremony  was  strikingly  impressive.  That 
cartoon  of  Paul  preaching  at  Athens,  was  vividly  brought  to  my 
mind  by  the  massive  figure  and  countenance  of  the  Bishop  of 
Pennsylvania,  earnest,  eloquent,  self-forgetting  ;  every  eye  turned 
upon  him  with  an  expression  of  love  and  veneration  which  could 
hardly  have  been  exceeded  in  Apostolic  days.  Here,  too,  were  early 
converts ;  here,  too,  might  be  doubters  and  cavillers  to  whom  the 
scene  was  new  ;  but  I  felt  sure  that  on  this  occasion  many  a  sheep 
was  gathered  into  one  fold  under  one  shepherd;  and  by  a  shepherd, 
too,  who  would  watch  over  his  increasing  flock  with  wisdom  as  well 
as  tenderness.  He  is  now  received  under  a  roof  not  professedly  at 
tached  to  his  church;  but  the  hearts  are  with  him,  whether  the 
external  profession  of  its  inmates  may  be  his  or  not. 

A  visit  to  this  district  is  extremely  refreshing  as  a  counterpoise  to 
the  more  worldly,  ostentatious,  selfish  communities  of  commercial 
places.  Here  simplicity  of  manners,  quietude  of  dress,  and  friendli 
ness  of  feeling,  are  united  with  refinement  and  culture ;  it  is  under 
such  circumstances  that  the  American  character  is  seen  to  advan 
tage.  Agriculture  predominates,  and  trade  is  subordinate ;  the  in 
fluence  of  the  former  is  certainly  most  salutary  ;  and  when  forming 
and  gardening  are  pursued  as  a  relaxation  by  men  engaged  in  com 
mercial  life,  I  have  remarked  their  beneficial  influence  upon  charac 
ter.  A  fine  view  of  part  of  the  Alleghany  chain  of  mountains  is 
obtained  from  this  place ;  and  there  is  an  interesting  little  farm 
belonging  to  our  hosts  which  supplies  the  best  butter  and  cream  I 
have  tasted  in  the  United  States  ;  and  what  is  more,  the  butter  is 
churned  by  the  willing  co-operation  of  animals  I  never  before  saw 
industriously  occupied.  A  small  circular  treadmill  turns  a  wheel, 
attached  to  a  kind  of  piston,  which  falls  into  the  churn  ;  a  ewe  and 


338  VALLEY    OF    PEACE. 

her  lambs  are  engaged  in  walking  up-hill,  towards  a  small  hole  in 
the  wall  of  the  shed  which  shelters  the  machine.  A  little  salt  and 
some  meal  placed  in  the  hole  is  at  once  an  incentive,  and  a  reward 
of  exertion  ;  and  the  old  and  young  sheep  appear  most  contentedly 
employed,  while  a  dairy-woman  is  spared  labour.  She  at  times 
stops  the  machinery  to  rest  the  animals,  who  always  seem  willing  to 
walk  on  again,  after  a  few  minutes.  As  the  movement  depends 
upon  weight,  a  sheep  is  more  useful  than  a  dog  for  this  avocation  ; 
besides  which  the  latter  is  less  plodding  and  not  so  benefited  by 
clambering  ;  and  the  fattening  of  the  mutton  while  her  work  goes 
on,  is  a  proof  it  agrees  with  her.  I  have  ordered  one  of  these 
machines,  and  hope  it  will  be  a  useful  present  to  an  English  dairy. 

We  returned  to  Montrose  the  evening  of  the  18th,  as  the  Bishop 
was  engaged  to  lecture  there  upon  the  '  Character  of  Washington,' 
in  aid  of  the  funds  for  building  a  parsonage  house.  His  confirma 
tion  next  day  was  at  a  place  named  Pike,  and  he  allowed  me  to 
accompany  him  to  see  the  Wiolusing  (valley  of  peace).  More 
appropriate  and  beautiful  Indian  names  have  been  retained  here 
abouts  than  is  common  in  America.  The  Susquehanna  (winding 
river)  twists  about  so  as  almost  to  encircle  the  country  we  have  been 
traversing.  We  left  Montrose  early  on  the  21st,  and  went  by  New 
Milford  to  Great  Bend ;  wooded  hills  and  vales  are  diversified  by 
lakes  and  streams  the  whole  way  to  Owego  (or  Auwega,  the  Indian 
name),  from  which  place  I  now  write;  the  Susquehanna  again  flow 
ing  opposite  our  hotel,  as  it  did  a  hundred  miles  off  at  Wilkesbarre. 
To-morrow  we  proceed  to  Towanda. 

June  26. — Another  pretty  place  on  the  Susquehanna.  We  have 
again  followed  that  river  from  Great  Bend.  The  valley  from 
Waverly  here  is  exceedingly  fine,  much  resembling  that  of  the  Inn 
in  Bavaria ;  but  the  carriage-road  follows  the  edge  of  a  precipice 
nearly  the  whole  way,  and  it  is  so  narrow,  that  once  when  we  met  a 
small  wagon,  the  horses  were  taken  off,  and  the  vehicle  backed 
some  distance  before  we  could  pass.  On  Sunday  last  I  saw  a  young 
lady,  of  mature  age,  baptized  ;  the  baptismal  font  (as  is  usual  in 
America)  was  within  the  communion-rails,  between  the  reading-desk 


ELMIRA.  339 

and  pulpit ;  and  to  those  who  consider  symbolisms  secondary  to 
other  considerations,  this  is  pleasing  and  convenient,  as  the  recipient 
kneels  down  at  the  rails.  In  the  evening  the  Bishop  confirmed  the 
persons  also  chiefly  beyond  youth ;  and  in  the  afternoon  he  had  a 
Service,  principally  for  children. 

27^.— Mr.  W- took  charge  of  the  rest  of  the  party  during 

a  glorious  drive  of  twenty  miles  across  the  mountains,  while  the 

Bishop  and  Mrs.  P went  off  to  another  point  for  some  distant 

duty.  We  did  not  meet  them  again  till  we  had  slept  at  the  pretty 
town  of  Elmira,  where  Mrs.  W-* — *->and  I  took  a  pleasant  and 
beautiful  walk  to  one  of  numerous  hills  which  surround  the  place, 
and  there  we  saw  a  brilliant  sunset.  Here  the  formation  is  sand 
stone,  rich  in  fossils.  The  River  Chemung  flows  through  Elmira. 
We  retired  early  and  were  up  again  by  four  o'clock.  The  Bishop 

met  us  at  a  station  near  C ,  and  we  were  driven  to  Wellsborough 

by  a  gentleman  who  came  with  his  carriage.  There  several  hospitable 
houses  were  opened  to  the  party,  but  we  at  last  concentrated  it  at  Mr. 

C X  which  was  sufficiently  large  to  receive  us  all,  and  to  bestow 

every  luxury  and  comfort. 

At  first  I  was  taken  charge  of  most  kindly  by  another  family, 
and  I  felt  almost  open  to  the  charge  of  ingratitude  when  I  left 
them,  at  the  instance  of  our  guide  and  governor,  to  rejoin  the  rest 
of  our  travelling  party;  but  the  son  of  those  I  deserted  still  under 
took  to  aid  my  sketching  and  botanical  propensities.  In  a  distant 
ramble  he  procured  me  some  yellow  water  lilies,  the  large  leaves  of 
which  were  more  dark  and  shining  than  ours  (Nuphar  advena,  or 
Spatter  dock).  They  ornament  the  small  creeks  about  here.  Gray 
mentions  the  plant  as  most  common  in  shallow  waters.  We  found 
it  blooming  only  at  a  depth  of  three  or  four  feet,  and  sometimes 
the  flowers  were  to  be  observed  quite  under ;  perhaps  this  was  in 
consequence  of  a  late  sudden  rise  in  the  streams.  Linnaea  borealis 
was  plentiful,  carpeting  a  forest  of  gigantic  white  pines  ;  and  in  the 
meadows  I  found  Aster  rrraminifolius. 

O 

Within  thirty  or  forty  miles  of  this  place,  Rosa  Lake  gives  rise 
to  three  streams,  which  flow  north,  east,  and  south.  One  empties 


340  PLEASANT   TRAVELLERS. 

itself  into  the  St.  Lawrence ;  another  into  the  Chesapeake,  and  a 
third  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  so  that  these  mountains  must  indeed 
be  the  Highlands  of  the  United  States. 

On  Thursday,  the  28th  of  June,  we  left  Wellsborough,  after 
entering  the  cars  sixteen  miles  off.  We  journeyed  to  Batavia,  passing 
Ly  Bath  and  the  medicinal  springs  of  Avon.  On  the  29th,  the  rest 
of  the  party  left  me  to  proceed  to  Niagara,  and  I  went  alone  forty 
miles  by  railroad  to  Canandaigua,  where  I  again  find  myself  the 

guest  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  G with  whom  I  stayed  some  days  last 

October. 

On  Monday,  July  2nd,  I  hope  to  reach  Utica,  where  R 

is  awaiting  me,  with  the  Governor  and  Mrs.  Seymour.  The  weather 
is  now  intensely  hot :  for  three  days  the  thermometer  has  ranged 
above  ninety  degrees  in  the  shade.  Very  active  locomotion  must 
be  given  up  till  after  August,  and  I  shall  take  this  time  for  making 
quiet  visits  among  friends  in  New  York  and  New  England  States ; 
first  seeing  Trenton  Falls,  where  I  hope  once  more  to  meet  the 
Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  and  his  party.  We  were  together  three 
such  pleasant  weeks  !  I  feel  sure  that  not  one  unkind  thought,  or 
even  one  careless  word  cast  a  shadow  over  the  enjoyment  of  a  single 
individual  among  the  seven  who  thus  journeyed  together  ;  and  yet 
I  have  heard  it  said  that  travelling  in  company  is  one  of  the  most 
severe  tests  to  which  temper  and  friendship  can  be  subjected.  I  do 
not  subscribe  to  that  opinion.  Change  of  scene  is  in  itself  a  healthy 
kind  of  excitement,  and  therefore  it  is  likely  to  make  people  good- 
humoured,  and  more  accommodating  than  usual.  I  should  be  sorry 
to  pin  my  faith  upon  the  every-day  kindness  of  a  cross  traveller. 

The  country  between  Batavia  and  Canandaigua  is  less  attractive 
than  that  we  have  lately  seen.  We  came  through  part  of  the 
Genesee  Valley  the  day  before  yesterday,  which  is  very  fine. 
Twenty  years  ago  that  was  the  boundary  of  civilisation  ;  now  it  is 
in  the  midst  of  towns  and  settlements.  Anglo-Saxon  energy,  with 
a  dash  of  German  determination  and  Irish  quickness,  is  flying  over 
this  immense  continent  almost  as  fast  as  the  stream  of  electricity 
pervades  and  connects  its  most  remote  localities.  Talk  of  American 


UTICA.  341 

nationality !  as  if  America  is  not  an  epitome  of  the  world ;  and 
surely  the  inhabitants  of  America  may  well  be  proud  of  their  cos 
mopolitanism,  instead  of  fostering  a  narrow  sectional  spirit.  They 
may  succeed  in  transferring  the  blood  of  all  nationalities  into  a  pure 
New  World  stream,  if  it  be  only  healthfully  taken  charge  of,  with  the 
sole  exception  of  one  dark  current,  with  which  they  are  entrusted 
for  purification,  not  amalgamation — for  education,  not  adoption.  I 
forgot  to  say  that  my  intention  of  joining  Bishop  Horatio  Potter 
was  given  up,  or  rather  he  has  given  me  up.  His  brother  concludes 
that  Church  affairs  drew  him  another  way ;  and  I  have  had  quite 
sufficient  to  fill  up  my  time  without  attempting  Ticonderoga  at 
present. 

Utica,  July  3. — Yesterday  I  accomplished,  without  much  diffi 
culty,  a  solitary  journey  here.  More  numerous  packages  (occupied 
by  stones  and  flowers,  &c.)  than  were  quite  convenient  for  an  indi 
vidual  to  undertake,  during  the  necessary  change  of  cars  at  Syracuse, 
exercised  care  and  patience ;  but  I  brought  them  all  safe,  and  I  have 

now  rejoined  R .  My  English  letters  have  been  delivered  at 

New  York — a  disappointment,  as  I  hoped  to  find  them  here ;  but 
the  electric  telegraph  will  bring  them  quickly,  and  in  the  meanwhile 
I  find  some  interesting  American  correspondence,  particularly  a  letter 
from  Bishop  Elliott,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  of  mine  as  to  whether 
Miss  Bremer  had  not  misunderstood  his  opinions  upon  slavery.  I 
am  not  forbidden  to  quote  from  his  reply,  and  I  therefore  extract 
freely  from  the  conclusion.  He  first  explains  that  he  had  only 
agreed  with  Miss  Bremer  in  combating  some  extreme  opinions.  It 
is  too  important  not  to  be  made  use  of. 

The  Bishop  then  says : — 

'  It  is  well  for  Christians  and  philanthropists  to  consider  whether, 
by  their  interference  with  this  institution,  they  may  not  be  checking 
and  impeding  a  work  which  is  manifestly  providential.  For  nearly 
a  hundred  years  the  English  and  American  Churches  have  been 
striving  to  civilize  and  Christianize  Western  Africa,  and  with  what 
result  ?  Around  Sierra  Leone,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape 
Palmas,  a  few  natives  have  been  made  Christians,  and  some  nations 


342  BISHOP    ELLIOTT    ON    SLAVERY. 

have  been  partially  civilized ;  but  what  a  small  number  in  comparison 
with  the  thousands,  nay,  I  may  say  millions,  who  have  learned  the 
way  to  Heaven,  and  who  have  been  made  to  know  their  Saviour 
through  the  means  of  African  slavery !  At  this  very  moment  there 
are  from  three  to  four  millions  of  Africans,  educating  for  earth  and 
for  Heaven  in  the  so  vilified  Southern  States — educating  in  a  thou 
sand  ways  of  which  the  world  knows  nothing — educating  in  our 
nurseries,  in  our  chambers,  in  our  parlours,  in  our  workshops,  and  in 
our  fields,  as  well  as  in  our  churches ;  learning  the  very  best  lessons 
for  a  semi-barbarous  people — lessons  of  self-control,  of  obedience,  of 
perseverance,  of  adaptation  of  means  to  ends ;  learning,  above  all, 
where  their  weakness  lies,  and  how  they  may  acquire  strength  for 
the  battle  of  life.  These  considerations  satisfy  me  with  their  con 
dition,  and  assure  me  that  it  is  the  best  relation  they  can,  for  the 
present,  be  made  to  occupy.  As  a  race,  they  are  steadily  improving. 
So  far  from  the  institution  being  guilty  of  degrading  the  negro,  and 
keeping  him  in  degradation,  it  has  elevated  him  in  the  scale  of  being 
much  above  his  nature  and  race,  and  it  is  continuing  to  do  so. 
Place  an  imported  African  (of  whom  a  few  still  remain)  side  by  side 
with  one  of  the  third  or  fourth  generation,  and  the  difference  is  so 
marked  that  they  look  almost  like  distinct  races — not  only  in  mind 
and  knowledge,  but  in  physical  structure. 

'That  monkey  face,  the  result  of  an  excessively  obtuse  facial 
angle,  has  become,  without  any  admixture  of  blood,  almost  as  human 
as  that  we  are  accustomed  to  see  in  the  white  race,  and  it  has  a 
facial  angle  as  distinctly  a  right  angle  as  that  which  belongs  to  the 
Caucasian  family.  The  thick  lips  have  become  thin — the  dull  eye 
is  beaming  with  cunning,  if  not  with  intelligence ;  the  understanding 
is  acute  and  ingenious.  Their  knowledge,  when  they  have  been  in 
structed  by  missionaries  or  by  owners,  is  respectable.  A  man  has 
been  made  out  of  a  barbarian,  an  intelligent  and  useful  labourer  out 
of  an  ignorant  savage — a  Christian  and  a  child  of  God,  out  of  a 
heathen ;  and  this  is  called  degrading  the  African  race,  by  holding 
them  in  slavery  !  Such  language  is  only  of  a  piece  with  that  miser 
ably  false  sentimentalism  which  is  pervading  the  world — such  senti- 
mentalism  as  thinks  it  cruel  that  a  child  should  be  disciplined  or  a 


BISHOP    ELLIOTT    ON    SLAVERY.  343 

criminal  punished ;  which  looks  so  tenderly  upon  the  means  as  quite 
to  overlook  the  great  end  those  means  may  be  working  out.  God's 
ways  are  not  discordant  with  this  way  of  Slavery.  He  who  sees 
everything  in  its  true  aspect,  with  whom  a  thousand  years  is  as  one 
day — in  whose  sight  the  light  affliction  of  this  life,  which  is  but  for 
a  moment,  is  far  outweighed  by  the  glory  which  is  to  follow — cares 
very  little  for  the  present  means  through  which  His  will  is  working. 
What  is  it  that  a  man  should  be  a  slave,  if  through  that  means  he 
may  become  a  Christian  ?  What  is  it  that  one,  or  even  ten  genera 
tions  should  be  slaves,  if,  through  that  arrangement,  a  race  be  train 
ing  for  future  glory  and  self-dependence  ?  What  are  the  sufferings 
(putting  them  at  the  worst)  which  the  inhumanity  and  self-interest, 
and  the  restraints  of  law  can  inflict  for  a  few  generations,  when  com 
pared  with  the  blessings  which  may  thus  be  wrought  out  for  count 
less  nations  inhabiting  a  continent?  What  is  to  be  the  course  and 
what  the  end  of  this  relation,  God  only  knows.  My  feeling  just  now 
is,  that  I  would  defend  it  against  all  interference,  just  as  I  should 
defend  my  children  from  anyone  who  would  tempt  them  to  an  im 
proper  independence ;  just  as  I  should  defend  any  relation  of  life 
which  man  was  attempting  to  break  or  to  violate,  ere  the  purpose  of 
God  in  it  had  been  worked  out.' 

And  these  are  the  opinions  of  Bishop  Elliott,  of  Georgia,  the 
man  who  remained  nursing  and  consoling  the  sick  and  the  dying, 
and  burying  the  dead,  when  Savannah  was  decimated  by  yellow 
fever,  and  when  thousands  were  falling  victims  around  him  !  After 
this,  who  will  dare,  with  a  self-laudatory  philanthropy,  stand  up  and 
contrast  his  own  abolitionism  with  the  patient  practical  doings  of  a 
conscientious  slave-owner  ?  Unhappily,  it  has  of  late  years  been  too 
common  among  well-intentioned  weak  Christians  to  set  up  a  stock 
of  philanthropy  at  the  expense  of  others.  Let  all  do  the  work  at 
their  own  doors,  and  the  work  of  God  in  the  world  will  be  well  done. 
If  each  man  will  reform  himself,  human  nature  will  be  effectually 
mended.  Butv  as  theory  is  easier  than  practice,  so  it  is  more  com 
mon  to  look  after  the  mote  in  our  brother's  eye  than  to  take  the 
beam  out  of  our  own. 

As  a  commentary  upon  the  Slavery  question,  I  add  two  articles 


344 


A   NEGRO   WEDDING. 


taken  from  newspapers — one,  the  account  of  a  negro  wedding,  the 
other  descriptive  of  a  negro  funeral.  I  must  also  mention  that,  in 
conversing  with  the  free  blacks,  I  rarely  find  them  contented  with 
their  situation.  An  intelligent  well-looking  black  carried  my  things 
from  an  hotel  at  Batavia  to  the  train.  I  inquired  if  he  liked  the 

country  ? — 'Pretty  well,  missus,  but '     There  is  always  a  '  but' 

from  the  lips  of  a  Northern  black — rarely  expressed  in  the  South, 
where  it  is  generally,  'Mighty  fond  of  master  or  missus-;  black 
people  well  to  do,  not  often  too  much  work,  missus ;'  '  Many  has  got 
plenty  of  jewelry,  missus ;'  '  We  get  our  own  way,  tolerable,  missus,' 
&c.,  &c. 

STAUNTON,  June  24,  1855. 

A  SLAVE   WEDDING    IN   OLD  VIRGINIA— THE  INVITATIONS- 
NEGRO  ARISTOCRACY,  &c.,  <fec. 

I  send  you  herewith  the  originals  of  three  invitations  to  a  negro  wed 
ding,  which  is  to  take  place  on  the  27th,  at  Richmond.  The  envelopes  are 
in  the  best  style  of  De  la  Rue  and  Co.,  open-work  embossed,  and  of  the 
finest  texture.  They  enclose  an  embossed  card,  inscribed  thus : — 


MR.  and  MRS.  TAYLOR  will  be  pleased  to  see  you  on 
Wednesday  Evening,  June  27th,  at  8&  o'clock. 

MARIA  JOHNSON. 
ADAM  HAWKINS. 
Richmond. 


The  superscription  is  as  follows : — 'Mr.  Charles  Jackson  and  lady,  pre 
sent  ; '  the  second  is  to  '  Mr.  Henry  Cassie  and  lady,  present; '  and  the  third 
to  'Mrs.  Jane  Hawkins.'  The  notes  are  written  in  a  neat,  Italian  hand 
writing,  and  tied  with  white  satin  ribbon,  a  la  mode  de  Paris. 

These  invitations  were  all  received  by  members  of  my  family.  Mrs. 
Hawkins  is  my  cook;  Mrs.  Jackson  my  laundress;  Mrs.  Cassie  my  file  de 
chambre.  They  are  all  slaves,  and  their  husbands  are  also  slaves,  owned  by 


A    NEGRO    FUNERAL.  345 

some  of  my  neighbours.  The  happy  bridegroom  is  related  to  my  coloured 
family.  They  will  doubtless  have  a  happy  time  of  it,  and  I  commend  to 
Greeley  the  case  of  these  'oppressed  children  of  Africa.'  I  am  sorry  that 
every  abolitionist  in  the  land  should  not  have  an  opportunity  to  see  one 
such  Virginia  wedding.  VALLEY. 


A  LARGE  NEGRO  FUNERAL. 

A  coloured  man  named  Samuel  Betterson,  an  ordained  deacon  of  the  3d 
Coloured  Baptist  Church,  was  buried  yesterday  afternoon.  A  very  large 
number  of  his  friends  followed  him  to  his  grave.  We  noticed  in  the  pro 
cession,  three  uniformed  fire  companies,  and  another  joined  them  on  the 
South  Common.  The  Porter's  Association,  of  which  he  was  a  member, 
turned  out,  and  wore  black  scarfs,  with  white  rosettes.  We  also  noticed 
in  the  procession,  two  or  three  Female  Benevolent  Associations,  distinguished 
by  suitable  dresses.  A  spectator  counted  thirty-five  carriages,  well  filled, 
besides  a  number  of  other  conveyances,  and  many  on  horseback,  following 
the  hearse.  It  is  estimated  that  between  two  thousand  and  two  thousand 
five  hundred  coloured  persons  were  in  the  procession. 

The  mother  of  the  Rev.  John  Cox,  the  coloured  pastor  of  the  3d  Baptist 
Church,  was  also  buried  yesterday  afternoon.  About  fifty  carriages,  con 
taining  her  relations  and  friends,  followed  her  remains  to  the  grave. 

John  Guerrard,  a  coloured  fireman,  and  a  member  of  engine  No.  5,  was 
also  buried  yesterday  afternoon.  The  members  of  his  company,  in  uniform, 
and  a  large  number  of  his  friends,  in  carriages  and  on  horseback,  followed 
him  to  the  grave. 

We  will  add,  for  the  information  of  our  northern  friends,  that  the  funeral 
processions  above  noticed  were  perfectly  quiet  and  orderly,  and  that  every 
thing  connected  wtth  them  was  conducted  with  the  utmost  decorum  and 
propriety. 

July  4, — I  am  now  again  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seymour.  Utica 
is  a  pleasant  town ;  the  Valley  of  the  Mohawk,  in  which  it  is  situated, 
is  highly  cultivated.  Mrs.  J.  Seymour  took  me  last  evening  to  one 
of  the  low  surrounding  hills,  and  I  thought  the  view  resembling 
those  from  some  of  our  Gloucestershire  elevations.  "We  went  to  see 
the  pretty  rural  cemetery,  and  sat  down  upon  a  boulder  of  granite, 
16 


346  CAZENOVIA. 

once  considered  the  sacred  stone  of  the  Indians.  It  was  brought 
from  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  to  save  it  from  destruction,  and  room 
was  left  around  the  little  mound  where  it  was  placed  for  the  inter 
ment  of  any  of  the  red  people  who  might  wish  to  be  buried  near  it. 
Many  of  them  attended  the  consecration  of  the  cemetery,  but  not 
one  has  ever  availed  himself  of  the  privilege  of  interment  there, 
partly  because  the  tribes  have  almost  all  gone  West ;  and  any  indi 
viduals  who  may  still  linger  in  the  Oneida  land  are  too  poor  to  incur 
the  expense  of  distant  funerals. 

Here  there  is  an  American  nursery  gardener  really  fond  of 
flowers — the  first  time  I  have  met  with  a  native  of  the  United  States 
with  that  taste  powerful  enough  to  induce  him  to  devote  himself  to 
their  cultivation.  All  the  nursery  men  I  have  made  acquaintance 
with  before  have  been  English,  Scotch,  or  Irish,  and  none  of  them 
found  sufficient  encouragement  to  be  much  devoted  to  their  pursuit. 
This,  the  anniversary  of  American  Independence,  is  a  day  of  noisy 
rejoicing,  taken  advantage  of  by  boys  and  men  for  a  Saturnalia  of 
squibs  and  crackers,  which  are  not  only  unceasingly  exploding  to 
day,  but  have  been  unpleasantly  active  ever  since  I  arrived,  on 
Monday.  It  is  more  alarming  for  horses  and  for  petticoats  than  even 
our  celebration  of  Guy  Fawkes.  In  the  afternoon,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Seymour  are  to  take  me  to  the  residence  of  their  brother-in-law,  forty 
miles  off,  at  Cazenovia,  which  I  understand  is  a  beautiful  locality, 
and  one  abounding  in  fossils. 

Cazenovia,  July  5. — We  went  thirty-five  miles  by  cars,  a  few 

miles  in  a  stage,  and  at  Chittenango  Mr.  L met  us  with  his 

carriage.  Chittenango  means, 4  the  river  flowing  north ; '  Chenango, 
'  the  water  going  south.'  From  Chittenango  there  is  a  gradual  rise 
of  eight  miles  to  Cazenovia.  Limestone  caps  the  hills :  as  you  ad 
vance,  scarlet  berried  elders  appear  accompanying  it ;  and  by  the 
sides  of  the  valley  I  found  Psoralea  Onobryches,  the  scarlet  maple, 
and  a  beautiful  rose-coloured  Calystegia,  so  different  in  tint  and  cha 
racter  from  Sepium,  I  can  think  it  only  a  variety.  We  stopped 
on  our  way  to  see  a  pretty  fall  of  the  Chittenango.  I  expected  to 
find  Cazenovia  a  wild,  rocky,  mountainous  lake,  the  settlement  built 


ORNITHOLOGY.  347 

of  log-houses,  and  buried  in  pine-woods.  I  find  a  calm  water,  some 
thing  like  Wenham  Pond,  about  four  miles  long,  with  an  orna 
mented  regular  little  town,  and  Mr.  L.'s  house  overlooking  the  water 
— a  solid,  brick,  English-like  residence.  It  is  all  pretty,  but  quite  in 
a  different  style  from  that  my  imagination  had  pictured.  The  situ 
ation  is  as  high  as  the  Lake  of  Geneva.  We  took  an  interesting 
drive  yesterday  to  see  one  of  the  sulphur  sinks,  or  green  ponds, 
twelve  miles  distance,  and  on  the  way  there  were  extended  views  in 
every  direction.  One  fine  prospect  took  in  the  whole  length  of  Lake 
Oneida,  twenty  miles ;  and  in  that  direction  it  seemed  possible  to 
see  almost  to  Canada.  Valleys  between  these  limestone  ridges  are 
believed  to  be  the  work  of  denudation,  and  such  circular  ponds  as 
those  we  saw  yesterday  have  been  possibly  caused  by  the  melting  of 

salt  formations,  which  Mr.  L thinks  may  have  been  carried  off 

to  enrich  the  salt-pans  of  Syracuse.  The  fossils  of  this  district  are 
very  interesting  and  new  to  me :  I  never  before  saw  such  gigantic 
Trilobites — they  are  almost  as  large  as  the  cast  of  one  shown  to  me 
at  Cincinnati. 

At  last  I  have  seen  a  humming-bird  ;  and,  foolishly  enough,  I 
was  surprised  by  its  humming.  I  thought  the  name  was  owing  to 
their  resemblance  to  a  bee  on  the  wing,  but  they  hum  louder  than 
any  bee ;  and  the  one  I  saw  sat  a  long  time  on  a  sprig,  and  seemed 
to  be  drying  his  little  self  in  the  sun,  after  the  wet  in  the  morning ; 
if  disturbed,  it  only  flew  to  a  post  near  the  tree  upon  which  we 
first  observed  it,  and  then  went  back  again.  I  did  not  see  him 
feed ;  yet  I  understand  he  is  seldom  to  be  seen  but  on  the  wing- 
feeding.  Yesterday,  Mr.  L pointed  out  the  kingbird,  a  little 

unarmed  bird,  which,  by  activity  and  perseverance,  asserts  a  sove 
reignty  over  the  feathered  tribe,  and  chases  even  hawks  away  from  a 
field.  I  observed  him  banishing  a  crow  six  times  as  large  as  him 
self:  he  follows  incessantly,  and  torments  until  his  subject  flies  off. 
Ilere  I  have  been  shown  some  curious  nests.  It  seems  the  cow- 
bird  in  this  country  is  as  indolent  a  mother  as  our  cuckoo  :  she  lays 
an  egg  in  the  nests  of  other  birds,  and  leaves  it  to  take  its  chance  in 
a  strange  family.  A  species  of  linnet  is  wise  enough  to  find  out  the 


348  RURAL    HOTEL. 

liberty  taken  at  her  expense  :  in  one  instance  she  inserted  another 
nest  above  the  intruded  egg,  so  as  to  leave  it  unhatched ;  in  another, 
the  linnet  contrived  to  sink  the  cow-bird's  progeny  below  her  own 
eggs.  The  oriole  will  appropriate  any  silk  or  worsted  put  in  her  way, 
and  I  am  to  have  a  very  pretty  nest  interlaced  with  scarlet  wool ; 
and  the  fine  line  of  a  fishing  rod,  with  the  hook  attached,  has  also 
been  turned  in  with  other  materials.  The  yellow  linnet  is  a  very 
showy  little  bird.  I  have  seen  here  also  a  milk-white  woodpecker, 
with  black  wings  and  neck.  What  is  here  called  a  robin  is  more 
like  one  of  our  thrushes,  with  a  faint  tinge  of  red  on  his  breast.  It 
may  be  remarked  in  this  neighbourhood,  elevated  as  it  is,  that  a  large 
quantity  of  drift  has  at  some  time  been  brought  here  from  Canada. 
Large  boulders  and  rolled  pebbles  of  granite  and  gneiss  form  part  of 
it ;  and  as  these  increase  in  size  and  quantity  going  northward,  their 
progress  and  direction  can  be  traced.  In  a  forest  near  the  '  Green 
Pond,'  for  the  first  time  I  found  what  is  called  the  walking  fern 
(Campsorus  Rhysophyllus). 

Friday,  July  6. — We  set  off  to  see  a  pretty  waterfall  about  eight 
miles  from  Cazenovia,  and  as  I  sketched  from  long  grass  in  a  down 
pour  of  rain,  I  got  thoroughly  wet ;  but  the  interest  of  the  place  kept 
me  warm,  and  no  mischief  happened  from  the  drive  back  in  wet 
things.  In  the  afternoon  we  were  rowed  upon  the  lake  very  pleas 
antly  by  a  little  girl  under  twelve  years  of  age. 

July  *lth. — I  returned  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Seymour,  to  Utica,  in 
our  way  to  Trenton  Falls,  where  we  met  three  of  my  fellow-tourists 
in  Pennsylvania  ;  but  the  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Potter  had  been  obliged 
to  go  off  in  another  direction. 

July  Sth. — This  is  the  most  charming  and  rural  hotel  I  have 
seen  in  America ;  it  is  situated  almost  in  a  dense  hemlock  spruce 
forest,  and  has  a  garden  quite  English  in  style  and  neatness  ;  and 
the  rooms,  brightly  clean  and  comfortable,  are  decorated  with  prints 
and  drawings  chosen  with  artistic  taste.  The  present  landlord  mar 
ried  a  daughter  of  the  first  possessor  of  this  property  twenty  years 
ago,  and  is  now  the  owner.  Everything  about  it  is  in  accordance 
with  the  beauty  and  magnificence  of  its  natural  scenery :  no  forced 


A    FOREST    SWAMP.  349 

ornaments  or  glaring  paint  jars  upon  the  feelings  or  hurts  the  eye. 
Here  is  a  kind  of  mesmeric  influence  which  impresses  the  heart  un 
consciously  :  a  sincere  worshipper  of  nature  is  at  once  assured  that 
one  of  her  most  lovely  shrines  cannot  be  desecrated  by  an  adoration 
of  Mammon's  golden  idol.  Mr.  Moore  is  worthy  of  Trenton  both  by 
taste  and  education.  This  name  Trenton  was  formerly  Oldenbarne- 
veld :  one  regrets  it,  although  originating  from  the  Hollanders,  not 
the  Indian,  whose  appropriate  appellation  was  '  Kangahoora '  (leap 
ing  waters),  and  he  called  the  river  Kanatd  (Amber  River),  equally 
descriptive  ;  for  at  some  places  the  falls  resemble  liquid  amber,  and 
occasionally  the  tumbling  stream  appears  to  have  an  edging  of  gold. 
The  Governor  and  Mrs.  Seymour  first  took  me  to  see  it  from  the 
Forest-walk,  where  the  chasm  below  resembled  that  of  the  Tilt  at 
Blair  Athol,  only  filled  by  a  wider,  larger  river,  and  by  a  succession 
of  higher  falls. 

After  dinner  Mr.  Moore  took  us  a  long  walk,  over  wall  and  fence, 
to  see  a  railroad  in  process  of  formation,  by  the  aid  of  a  very  power 
ful  and  ingenious  machine,  worked  by  steam.  The  ground  it  is  ex 
cavating  is  a  hill  of  sand ;  an  immense  scoop,  with  a  kind  of  trap 
door  behind,  pokes  in  and  fills  itself,  and  then  turns  quietly  and 
majestically  round  alone  to  the  wagon  at  one  side ;  the  scoop  then 
opens  and  at  once  deposits  half  a  load,  while  people  above  push 
down  the  undermined  ground ;  at  this  rate  a  mountain  rapidly  van 
ishes.  I  am  no  mechanic,  but  there  is  a  simple  grandeur  in  these 
evolutions  which  touched  me  considerably.  I  have  always  felt  that 
even  railroads  have  their  poetry,  and  if  I  were  a  rhymer,  this  grand, 
solemn  workman  would  set  me  rhyming. 

In  our  way  back  Mr.  Moore  was  so  obliging  as  to  accede  to  my 
wish  that  he  would  take  me  into  a  forest  swamp,  to  see  the  mocas 
sin  flower  growing;  as  we  had  to  go  down  a  steep  woody  hill, 
guided  by  a  man  living  near,  the  rest  of  the  party,  excepting  one 
young  man,  deserted.  I  was  fully  repaid  for  a  rather  difficult 
scramble  by  finding  numbers  of  the  beautiful  pink  Cyprepedium 
spectabile  (I  should  not  call  it  purple)  and  Lilium  Canadense  by  its 
side.  The  latter  I  have  occasionally  seen  by  the  edges  of  railroads, 


350  THE  'BOILING  POT.' 

but  I  never  before  gathered  it.  The  pretty  little  white  anemone- 
like-looking  Dalibarda  repens  was  also  in  flower  all  over  the  adjoin 
ing  banks. 

Next  morning  Mr.  Moore  took  charge  of  us  during  a  walk  to  all 
the  falls  along  the  edge  of  the  torrent;  without  his  experienced 
guidance  I  should  have  been  afraid  to  undertake  this,  but  as  the 
water  was  high  enough  for  beauty  and  not  too  high  for  safety,  it  was 
very  enjoyable.  I  sketched  the  three  principal  cataracts.  It  will 
not  do  to  compare  them  with  Niagara — it  is  an  entirely  different 
kind  of  thing ;  but  certainly  after  Niagara  I  should  prefer  visiting 
Trenton  to  any  other  water  scenery  in  America.  Some  of  the  party 
were  obliged  to  leave  us  at  one  o'clock ;  but  Mrs.  Seymour  and  I 
delayed  our  departure  till  five,  and  remained  out  till  near  three. 

Within  the  spray  of  one  of  the  falls  I  discovered  a  small  fern 
(some  species  of  Pteris)  not  described  by  Gray,  and  I  cannot  help 
hoping  it  is  altogether  new  to  botanists.  It  is  about  the  size  of  an 
Asplenium  ruta  muraria,  but  a  bright  green,  and  the  fronds  soft,  not 
shining,  and  not  crisp,  like  the  Pteris  crispa.  We  returned  to  Utica 
in  the  evening,  and  yesterday  Governor  Seymour  came  with  me  to 
Albany.  I  now  write  again  from  the  Congress  Hotel,  and  to 
morrow  it  is  my  plan  to  go  over  to  visit  Mrs.  Edwards,  at  Lenox, 
Mass.  I  understand  it  is  a  pretty  place  among  the  Berkshire  hills  ; 
from  thence  I  shall  go  on  to  spend  a  month  among  my  Boston 
friends,  and  there  I  shall  have  enough  to  do  to  unpack  and  arrange 
the  numerous  boxes  of  stones,  shells,  and  plants,  I  have  at  different 
times  forwarded  to  Mr.  Long's  care. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 

Albany,  July  11. 

P.  S. — In  coming  from  Utica  yesterday  we  almost  followed  the 
course  of  the  Mohawk  River,  and  came  through  several  places  which 
still  retain  the  Indian  names — Canojoharie  (the  '  boiling-pot')  from 
a  spring  which  resembles  a  small  whirlpool,  and  Schenectady  (the 
end  of  the  pine  plain). 


LETTER  XXVIII. 


LENOX.  BERKSHIRE  HILLS,  MASSACHUSETTS,  } 
July  13, 1855.  J 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

This  place  differs  from  all  those  I  have  before  seen  in  the 
United  States.  A  cottage  belonging  to  my  hosts  is  situated  on  an 
eminence,  nearly  in  the  centre  of  an  extensive  valley  ;  yet  the  sur 
rounding  country  is  hardly  a  vale.  It  is  a  depression  made  up  of 
numberless  unequal  hills,  and  bounded  by  higher  irregular  ones,  with 
fine  mountains  showing  north  and  south,  at  a  distance  of  about  twen 
ty-five  or  thirty  miles.  Saddleback  to  the  north,  emulates  Loch  na 
Garr,  near  Balmoral,  in  form ;  Washington  southwards  is  its  twin 
mountain,  though  apparently  less  grand.  About  a  mile  in  front  of 
the  house  there  are  small  lakes,  bordered  and  half  hid  by  woods  and 
broken  ground.  At  present  no  offices  or  interfering  plantations  shut 
out  the  panorama,  and  its  effect  upon  the  windows  and  lawn  is  al 
most  perfect — rather  Scotch  than  Swiss  in  character ;  but,  as  seen 
from  the  house,  it  is  a  view  which  embraces  a  wider  and  more  varied 
extent  than  any  I  know  elsewhere  as  a  home  prospect.  Although 
many  have  one  side  from  which  a  still  greater  expanse  of  hills,  val 
leys,  and  lakes  may  be  seen,  I  am  not  acquainted  with  any  other 
spot  which  has  such  views  on  every  side.  Mrs.  and  Miss  Catharine 
Sedgwick  live  near  Lenox.  One  evening  we  drank  tea  with  them, 
and  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  P.  James.  Mrs.  Fanny  Kemble  has  a  cot- 


352  A    SHAKER   VILLAGE. 

tage  near.     Authors  and  poets  seem  to  congregate  around  this,  the 

*  Lake  District '  of  the  United  States. 

Through  Miss  Sedgwick  I  got  some  Indian  names  of  places — 
names  that  are  now  fast  fading  out  of  memory  ;  but  she  has  rescued 
these  from  the  talk  of  an  Indian  woman,  and  they  are  worth  preser 
vation.  A  river,  now  called  Housatonic,  flows  below  Lenox.  This 
is  a  corruption  of  '  Awastonook  '  (over  the  mountains).  The  Indians 
so  called  it  when  they  came  from  the  Hudson.  There  is  a  spot 
called  now  Elizabeth  Lot  (Elizabeth  is  '  Auchweemee,'  the  name  of  a 
berry).  That  place  was  also  'Nanwodtama'  (middle  of  the  town). 
In  the  pronunciation,  the  first  syllable,  Audi,  should  be  spoken  gut- 
turally.  Kinkerpot,  a  small  lake  near,  has  not  so  euphonious  a  sound 
as  usual ;  it  was  '  Kinkapotamia'  (where  a  mare  was  drawn  out  of  the 
water).  A  beautiful  meadow,  where  maple  trees  grow,  bore  the 
name  'Hackpeehink '  (the  nation's  sugar  place).  A  should  be  uttered 
long  as  in  far  ;  the  ch  gutturally  ;  u  with  a  long  sound,  as  in  full. 

*  Hackpeehuckchoo '  (the  rising  mountain),  and  Scott's  Lake  between 
Lenox  and  Lee,  was  '  Natchovtashmuch '  (cutting  bulrushes).   '  The 
rattlesnake  mountain,' '  Taheecannach,'  but  that  word  signifies  heart, 
and  it  was  for  some  reason  associated  with  the  affection  then  borne 
by  the  Indians  towards  the  white  race.     '  Cachcawalchook,'  one  of 
the    mountains  near  Stockbridge,  means  '  crossing  the    mountains.' 
'  Massmasschaick,'  a  'fish's  nest,'  is  now  Monument  Mountain.     The 
tribe   of  Indians   who   came   to  these  parts  from  the  North  River 
was  called  '  Maheecann6ek.'     '  Choo,'  or  '  Chook,'  means  mountain. 
'  Queecheeochook,'  '  mountain  river.'      '  Pahquinapackkuch,'  ;  dark 
water.'  '  Pangqueseek,'  the  name  of  a  marsh  near  this  place.  '  Wash- 
cuing'  and  '"Washenee  are  now  the  Salisbury  Lakes. 

I  was  taken  to  visit  a  Shaker  village,  which,  perhaps,  from  the 
beauty  of  its  situation,  appeared  less  gloomy  than  the  establishment  I 
saw  last  year  near  Albany.  But,  after  all,  these  places  are  little  bet 
ter  than  open  mad  houses.  The  inhabitants  generally  look  ill  and 
depressed.  One  pretty  rosy  little  girl  about  thirteen  attracted  our 
notice.  She  looked  quite  out  of  place,  but  fortunately,  as  Shakers 
are  not  bound  by  vows,  she  may  be  freed  some  of  these  days — and 


CAMBRIDGE.  353 

inmates  often  dogrow  tired  of  such  a  cold  formal  life,  and  make  off.  One 
woman,  not  long  ago,  left  this  village,  and  engaged  herself  in  one  of 
the  most  noisy  factories  she  could  find.  I  suppose  the  contrast  was 
agreeable.  Another  day  I  went  to  see  what  is  called  the  Ice  Valley, 
near  Stockbridge.  Heaps  of  massive  rocks  are  thrown  one  upon 
another  in  a  narrow  gorge,  to  which  the  sun  never  penetrates  ;  and 
in  some  deep  holes  winter  snows  accumulate,  and  remain  unthawed 
through  the  hottest  summers.  Rambling  about  and  sketching  have 
occupied  my  time  during  a  pleasant  ten  days  passed  among  the 
Berkshire  hills,  so  journalizing  has  been  at  a  standstill. 

Cambridge,  near  Boston,  July  23. — I  am  now  with  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Gray,  at  the  Botanic  Garden.  We  came  by  Springfield,  through 
which  town  the  Connecticut  flows,  a  fine  river.  The  path  of  the 
railroad  goes  through  a  mountainous  district  the  first  fifty  miles. 

July  24. — I  went  to  the  cottage  of  my  friend,  Mr.  F ,  at 

Brookline ;  and  I  was  surprised  to  find  it  rurally  situated,  among 
woods  and  hills,  equi-distant  from  the  villages  of  Brighton  and  Brook- 
line,  instead  of  being  in  a  fiat  uninteresting  country. 

July  28. — I  took  the  railroad  five  miles  to  Boston,  and  saw  Cap 
tain  Judkins,  who  this  time  has  brought  in  the  Canada,  instead  of 
Captain  Stone.  Captain  Judkins  was  sent  with  troops  for  the  Cri 
mea,  in  the  Arabia,  but  he  got  the  fever  and  was  invalided  home ; 
Captain  Stone  replaced  him  ;  and  on  Captain  Judkins's  recovery,  he 
took  charge  of  the  Canada  till  the  large  new  steamer,  Persia,  just 
launched,  is  ready  for  sea.  I  have  engaged  my  old  berth  for  the 
last  week  in  October,  as  that  time  is  considered  favourable  for  making 
the  voyage  home.  In  one  of  the  papers  I  see  that  a  Creole,  at  Ha 
vana,  has  been  thrown  into  prison  on  suspicion  of  possessing  a  like 
ness  of  Ramon  Pinto.  Yesterday  I  heard  another  anecdote,  illustra 
tive  of  slavery  and  the  negro  character.  My  informant,  who  was 
lately  travelling  in  Virginia,  was  at  Sulphur  Springs.  The  master  of 
the  hotel  had  a  clever  active  black  waiter,  but  he  was  a  '  bad  boy.' 
After  some  particular  act  of  misconduct,  the  master  called  up  his 
slave : 

'  You  are  a  hopeless  rascal,  Horace ;  I  will  have  nothing  more  to 

16* 


354  WHITES    IN    THE    NORTHERN    STATES. 

do  with  you.     Here  are  some  dollars  and  your  papers  of  freedom  ; 
go  off  into  Kentucky,  and  never  let  me  se'e  you  again.' 
'  Can't  possible,  massa  ;  won't  go,  massa.' 

*  Won't !  but  you  must !  you  are  quite  able  to  take  care  of  your 
self.' 

*  Sha'n't,  massa.     Fac  is,  can't  no  way  'gree  with  them  free  nig 
gers.' 

And  Horace  remained  ;  his  owner  might  flog,  but  it  is  hardly 
possible  for  him  to  shake  off  a  servant  determined  not  to  go  ;  sell 
ing  is  the  only  way.  But  respectable  slaveowners  are  very  adverse 
to  this  mode  of  '  proceeding ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  get  rid  of  a  trouble 
some  negro.'  In  some  respects  the  masters  are  the  slaves  of  their 
servants,  who  often  dictate  instead  of  obeying.  I  here  repeat,  what 
probably  my  friends  in  England  will  be  slow  in  believing,  that,  in 
the  mass,  Southern  slaveowners  are  conscientiously  fulfilling  their  try 
ing  and  painftd  duties  ;  and  that  I  have  seen  more  of  comfort,  cheer 
fulness,  contentment,  and  religious  principle  among  negroes  of  the 
Southern  States,  than  among  any  other  working  population  of  the 
same  amount,  either  here,  or  in  England.  In  the  Northern  States 
the  whites  have  great  physical  and  mental  advantages ;  but  there  is 
an  absence  of  true  contentment  among  them,  and  a  prevalence  of 
insanity  sad  to  contemplate.  I  suppose  the  restlessness  consequent 
upon  a  new  country  and  Republican  institutions  does  not  tend  to  real 
self-happiness.  I  must  positively  assert  that  the  countenances  and 
manner  of  Americans  as  a  nation,  do  not  express  contentment.  That 
there  may  be  heart-rending  abuses  in  the  South  I  do  not  deny,  though 
I  have  not  witnessed  them ;  but  what  is  there  which  is  not  liable  to 
abuse  ?  I  could  tell  of  heart-rending  abuses  in  the  North.  '  Offen 
ces  will  come,  but  woe  unto  them  by  whom  they  come.'  No  one 
can  doubt  that  the  change  of  the  education  and  improvement  of  a 
black  population,  through  slavery,  is  a  trying  and  arduous  responsi 
bility —  a  task  for  which  pecuniary  advantages  are  a  poor  compen 
sation,  and  one  which  is  not  often  repaid  by  either  pecuniary  or 
moral  profit;  and  there  are  dangerous  and  awful  temptations  ac 
companying  it ;  but  are  not  temptations  God's  discipline  for  life  ? 


SLAVERY    AN    ORDINATION    OP   GOD.  355 

We  cannot  suppose  they  will  ever  be  removed  ;  but  we  must  take 
care  they  '  bring  forth  fruit  in  due  season.'  Personally,  with  all  my 
love  of  freedom,  I  would  much  prefer  to  be  a  slave  in  the  South  (not 
in  Cuba),  than  one  of  those  pariahs,  called  free  negroes  in  the 
North. 

I  am  now  with  an  abolitionist  friend,  who,  like  most  abolition 
ists,  has  never  visited  the  South.  We  can  therefore  sympathize  only 
in  a  wish  to  see  those  States  free  where  black  labour  can  be  super 
seded  by  white — and  this  for  the  sake  of  the  white  race  rather  than 
the  black.  I  cannot  praise  those  Southerners  who  keep  their  slaves, 
all  the  while  maintaining  that  Slavery  is  a  dark  spot,  to  be  washed 
off  the  first  convenient  opportunity.  Such  slaveowners  are  sinning 
against  conscience  ;  they  must  believe  in  slavery  as  one  of  the  means 
by  which  it  pleases  the  Most  High  to  discipline  the  white  and  the 
black  for  higher  things  ;  or  they  must  at  any  cost  repudiate  Slavery 
altogether.  Had  the  civilized  world  united  to  regulate  instead  of 
attempting  to  abolish,  each  black,  as  he  gained  sufficient  knowledge, 
habits  of  forethought,  and  industry,  might  by  law  have  been  given 
the  right  to  purchase  his  own  freedom  at  a  certain  age,  and  such 
negroes  would  have  gone  back  to  Christianize  and  civilize  Africa. 
But  the  futile  endeavour  to  abolish,  instead  of  to  regulate,  has  re 
sulted  in  injury  instead  of  benefit  to  the  black  race  ;  just  as  the 
Maine  Law  punishes  the  use  rather  than  the  abuse,  of  spirituous 
liquors.  At  one  house,  the  house  too  of  a  great  abolitionist  and  pro 
moter  of  the  Maine  Law,  I  met  with  '  tipsy-cake,'  and  saw  it  liberally 
bestowed  even  upon  children  !  So  we  may  eat  drink,  but  we  must 
not  drink  drink  !  Is  not  this  humbug  ? 

August  6. — We  have  been  paying  a  very  agreeable  visit  at  the 
house  of  that  good  Mr.  Forbes,  who  headed  a  petition  to  his  Gov 
ernment,  and  commanded  ships  which  brought  out  American  con 
tributions  of  food  to  the  starving  Irish.  This  was  indeed  a  brotherly 
act — a  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  '  one  ancestry  '  which  now 
and  ever  should  be  a  bond  of  affection  between  our  lands ;  and  I 
trust  whatever  family  jars  and  misunderstandings  may  have  arisen 
in  past  times  to  separate  parent  and  children,  the  'war  hatphet'  is 


356  TRAVELLING-BAG    LIFE-PRESERVER. 

now  for  ever  sunk  in  those  unfathomable  ocean  depths  by  which 
England  and  America  are  at  once  divided  and  united. 

Milton  has  a  charming  vicinity  ;  fine  trees,  hedges,  and  even 
roads,  bordered  by  hedges,  from  which  hang  lovely  draperies  of 
smilax  and  vines,  English  in  outline  if  not  in  detail.  The  village  is 
on  high  ground,  and  has  every  here  and  there  extensive  views,  with 
the  sea,  and  Boston,  and  Boston  Harbour — particularly  from  the 
granite  quarries  towards  the  blue  hills.  I  spent  a  whole  morning 
there,  with  an  American  friend  who  sympathized  in  the  pleasures  of 
sketching.  Rattlesnakes  are  not  uncommon,  but  that  reptile  is 
fortunately  timid,  and  rarely  stings;  even  the  women,  and  children 
who  are  scattered  about  '  berrying ' — that  is,  gathering  the  berries 
of  a  productive  huckleberry  ( Vaccinium  or  Galyussacia  resinosdj. 
Men  find  thick  leather  boots  or  gaiters  quite  sufficient  protection, 
for  rattlesnakes  never  strike  high. 

We  passed  one  pleasant  day  on  the  sandy  sea  shore  above  Nan- 
tasket  River — a  pic-nic  party  ;  and  there  I  saw,  as  last  year  at  New 
port,  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  dancing  among  the  waves,  as  it  is 
a  convenient  place  for  bathing.  Mr.  Forbes  went  into  the  water 
and  experimented  upon  his  travelling-bag  life-preserver — which  he 
thought  effectual  enough,  but  then  the  sea  was  very  calm.  Many 
vessels  dotted  the  offing.  A  sandy  bay  extends  five  miles  in  one 
direction,  whilst  the  other  side  is  indented  by  rocky  inlets,  Cape 
Anne  clearly  visible  in  the  distance.  Among  other  plants,  I  found 
for  the  first  time  Lycopodium  rupestris. 

JBrookline,  August  10. — Before  my  return  here  I  spent  a  morn 
ing  at  the  Botanic  Garden,  Cambridge,  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gray,  to 
meet  Miss  Morris,  a  botanical  lady  from  Philadelphia  ;  we  called  at 
the  house  of  Professor  Agassiz,  but  he  was  deeply  engaged  in  '  em- 
bryological  researches,'  at  Nahant.  From  Brookline  I  went  to  the 

Beverley  shore,  to  spend  a  few  days  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  L , 

under  whose  hospitable  roof  E  met  with  my  first  welcome  this  side 
the  Atlantic,  and  I  wrote  about  their  pretty  place  last  year. 

Providence,  August  18. — I  came  here  on  the  14th,  for  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Scientific  Association,  that  I  might  see  the 


THE   WISE    MEN    OF    THE    WEST.  357 

wise  men  of  the  West  assembled  together.  I  am  in  the  pleasant 
and  even  luxurious  abode  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M.  B.  Ives,  who  sent  me 
a  kind  invitation  through  Mr.  President  Wayland. 

August  15. — We  attended  the  morning  session  ;  that  day  there 
were  no  separate  sections.  Professor  Lomax  (after  the  Chairman,  Dr. 
Torry,  had  opened  the  meeting)  read  a  paper  upon  the  temperature 
of  planetary  bodies,  and  of  the  space  through  which  they  travel. 
This  subject  raised  an  animated  and  interesting  discussion,  which 
was  carried  on  by  Agassiz,  Henry,  Bache,  Pierce,  Rogers,  &c.  <fec. 
The  question  about  a  lunar  atmosphere  seems  still  doubtful ;  one 
astronomer  present  adduced  proofs  that  signs  of  twilight  were 
evident,  which  would  speak  to  the  fact  of  an  atmosphere  for  the 
moon.  (I  forgot  to  mention  that  I  passed  a  delightful  day  with 
Professor  and  Mrs.  Agassiz  at  Nahant,  and  he  was  generous  enough 
to  admit  the  value,  and  be  pleased  with  the  fossils  I  brought  from 
Ocala  and  the  Silver  Spring,  in  the  middle  of  Florida,  and  he  also 
said  that  the  existence  of  cretaceous  tertiary  formations  there  had 
not  before  been  ascertained.)  During  the  discussion  of  Professor 
Lomax's  papers,  a  pretty  general  agreement  appeared  to  be  arrived 
at ;  that  the  question  of  temperature  must  be  so  dependent  upon 
whatever  internal  heat  the  several  planetary  bodies  may  preserve  or 
evolve,  that  any  calculation  with  regard  to  their  distances  from  the 
sun,  cannot  give  certainty  about  their  individual  temperature.  But 
Agassiz  expressed  a  decided  opinion,  that  if  there  are  animal  organ 
isms  inhabiting  the  planets,  they  must  be  constituted  in  a  manner 
entirely  differing  from  terestrial  creatures;  and  if  (as  I  think  Whe- 
well  remarks)  the  laws  of  fluids,  of  light  and  of  motion  are  similar 
in  the  earth  and  the  other  bodies,  then  it  seems  a  fair  deduction  that 
as  yet  there  has  been  no  creation  of  life  in  worlds  incapable  of  sup 
porting  such  life  as  we  know  of.  Professor  Bache,  Director  of  the 
General  Coast  Survey,  showed  that  the  commonly  received  notion  of 
the  existence  of  one  great  tidal  wave,  is  a  mistake.  He  stated  that 
although  something  is  known  as  to  the  direction  of  tidal  waves  in 


358  FROZEN    WELLS. 

the  Atlantic,  very  little  or  Nothing  has  yet  been  ascertained  respect 
ing  those  of  the  Pacific.  President  Wayland  had  an  evening 
reception,  which  everybody  attended  ;  it  was  a  very  pleasant  party. 

During  the  morning  session  of  August  16th,  Bache  gave  an 
account  of  a  great  earthquake  wave  on  the  western  coast  of  the 
Pacific.  Professor  Brockleby  read  a  paper  upon  remarkable  frozen 
wells  near  Owego,  which  have  ice  during  the  hottest  summers. 
Agassiz,  as  usual,  charmed  and  informed  everyone  by  his  lucid 
statement  of  some  zoological  facts,  and  Mr.  Blake  gave  us  a  new 
and  interesting  notice  upon  the  geology  of  California. 

In  the  evening  there  was  an  assembly  at  Mr.  Allen's,  where  I 
was  introduced  to  Miss  Maria  Mitchell,  the  American  Mrs.  Somer- 
ville;  she  is  as  simple  and  unassuming  in  manner  as  our  great 
astronomess. 

Friday. — Professor  Hall  explained  much  about  graptolites  that 
was  new  to  me ;  he  used  a  lady's  parasol  to  exemplify  the  form  of 
some  of  these  polypi,  and  Agassiz  following,  made  some  of  his  lively 
instructive  remarks,  in  which  he  amused  the  audience  by  calling  the 
parasol  '  this  tool ; '  he  showed  that  some  of  the  associated  polypi 
are  probably  higher  in  the  scale  of  organization  than  single  indi 
viduals.  A  terrific  gunpowder  explosion  which  occurred  at  Wil 
mington  some  short  time  ago,  by  the  blowing  up  of  three  wagons 
(which  though  under  a  regulation  of  separate  departure,  had  con 
trived  to  travel  in  company),  afforded  opportunity  for  another  lively 
discussion,  which  explained  some  of  the  curious  phenomena  observed 
to  result  from  that  explosion,  and  a  debate  (also  conversational),  upon 
Professor  Bache's  account  of  the  co-tidal  lines  upon  the  Pacific 
coast,  exemplified  how  naturally  each  branch  of  science  dove-tails  into 
all.  To  the  zoologists  these  tides  offer  reasons,  which  partly  explain 
the  geographical  distribution  of  fishes.  To  the  mathematician  they 
read  or  resolve  problems ; — whilst  they  also  aid  and  confirm  the 
observations  of  geology,  and  thus  it  was  shown  how  the  cultivation 
of  each  science  elucidates  every  other  branch  of  knowledge.  As  to 
the  mathematical  and  optical  sections,  they  were  beyond  my  com 
prehension,  and  I  therefore  avoided  them  as  much  as  possible ;  but 


ZODIACAL    LIGHT.  359 

in  doing  so,  I  missed  hearing  Mr.  Jones's  observations  on  the  Zodia 
cal  Light,  which  I  am  told  were  deeply  interesting.  From  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  careful  observations,  he  decides  it  to  be  of  the  same 
nature  as  the  ring  of  Saturn  ;  but  another  great  astronomer  asserted 
that  Saturn's  ring  is  gradually  approaching  the  body  of  the  planet, 
and  that  within  eighty  years  they  must  meet.  I  do  not  understand 
how  these  two  discoveries  are  to  be  reconciled.  During  the  section 
of  Natural  History  this  morning,  Professor  Agassiz  showed  by  a 
clear  chain  of  argument  and  deduction,  that  the  newly  discovered 
jaw  of  a  species  of  shark  brought  from  carboniferous  formations  in 
Western  America  (I  think  from  Wisconsin),  belongs  to  the  sword- 
fish  division  of  that  family.  Professor  Henry  made  a  useful  practical 
statement,  respecting  the  best  mode  of  testing  building  materials;  he 
mentioned  that  blocks  of  stone  coated  (or  rather  divided  from  each 
other)  by  plates  of  tin,  support  double  the  weight,  borne  by  those 
which  have  lead  between  them,  because  the  latter  substance  gives 
way  to  pressure  much  more  easily  than  tin.  Mr.  Blake  continued 
his  observations  upon  the  geology  of  California,  and  the  mountainous 
ridges  along  the  western  coast,  and  Professor  Hitchcock  exhibited 
curious  drawings  from  the  foot  impressions  of  a  most  extraordinary 
four- toed,  two-legged  kind  of  frog,  which  must  have  been  larger  than 
the  largest  elephant  we  know  of.  I  cannot  feel  sure  that  I  have 
discovered  the  pith  of  what  I  have  been  listening  to  these  last  three 
days,  in  this  hasty  sketch,  but  perhaps  it  may  enable  you  to  judge 
that  a  great  deal  of  information  was  elicited,  and  that  the  subjects 
brought  forward  were  by  no  means  dry  even  to  unscientific  hearers. 
Saturday  evening  I  went  to  a  party  at  Professor  Caswell's  ;  and 
yesterday  I  visited  the  President  and  Mrs.  Wayland. 

Last  night  a  gentleman  of  high  reputation  in  the  legal  profes 
sion  told  me  that  the  free  black  people  die  out  so  rapidly,  that, 
although  himself  a  man  only  in  middle  age,  he  remembers  when 
almost  every  servant  in  the  town  was  black  or  coloured,  yet  now  few 
of  that  race  are  left.  His  general  views  upon  the  subject  of  slavery 
were  in  perfect  accordance  with  those  observation  has  led  me  to 
adopt ;  and  he  thinks  that,  notwithstanding  the  eagerness  and  acti- 


360  WHEATLEY    LEAD    MINES. 

vity  of  the  anti-slavery  party,  even  in  the  North,  a  majority  of  the 
calm  and  unprejudiced  minds  would  coincide  in  these  opinions;  and 
that  many  former  abolitionists  are  adopting  them.  Dr.  Adams,  who 
distinguished  himself  on  the  anti-slavery  side,  after  a  visit  to  the 
South  of  sufficient  investigation,  has  published  a  pamphlet  recanting 
former  opinions.  Judge  Wayne,  also,  confirms  my  observations 
respecting  the  strongly  aristocratic  feeling  which  prevails  among  the 
slaves.  They  consider  it  is  losing  caste  to  connect  themselves  by 
marriage  with  the  people  who  may  belong  to  masters  of  their  own 
race,  or  even  with  those  of  inferior  'Buckras;'  and  he  has  known 
many  instances  of  respectable  and  educated  blacks  (of  individuals 
who  have  been  elevated,  not  degraded,  by  slave  institutions)  who 
have  positively  refused  offers  of  freedom,  saying  they  did  not  want 
to  leave  a  country  the  laws  of  which  they  understood,  to  go  to  one 
where,  perhaps,  they  may  find  themselves  uncomfortable,  and  that 
among  whites  it  was  far  more  respectable  for  them  to  have  a  mas 
ter.  This  I  am  inclined  to  believe  is  the  opinion  of  the  best  informed 
and  most  superior  among  the  black  men — of  course  there  will  be 
exceptions;  but  it  is  the  giddy  and  profligate  negro,  as  a  general  rule, 
who  seeks  freedom  by  running  away.  This  subject  is  so  frequently 
a  topic  of  conversation,  that,  as  long  as  I  remain  in  America,  it  will 
turn  up  in  every  day  remarks. 

Monday,  August  21,  was  occupied  by  papers  and  discussions  upon 
various  subjects.  Mr.  Lawrence  gave  a  lecture  on  minerals  of  the 
Wheatley  lead  mines,  and  the  method  of  analyzing  sulphates, 
arsenates,  and  molybdates  of  lead.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Brooks  stated  a 
large  number  of  facts,  showing  the  fatal  results  which  have  followed 
from  the  marriages  of  blood  relations.  This  brought  up  Agassiz 
upon  races — his  observations  were  very  curious  and  striking.  Then 
we  had  Mr.  Blake's  notes  upon  the  mammoth  Red  wood  trees 
(Sequoias)  of  Calaveros  county,  California  ;  that  tree  named  by 
Lindley,  '  Wellingtonia,'  is  also  a  sequoia,  Dr.  Torry  says.  Mr. 
Blake  gave  me  a  specimen  of  this  wood,  which,  washed  over  with 
a  sponge  dipped  in  a  solution  of  soda,  immediately  became  so  dark 
as  to  be  almost  ebony  like.  That  evening  an  assembly  was  held  by 


MR.   ABBOTT   LAWRENCE.  361 

the  Mayor  of  Providence.  Mr.  Brown  and  I  leave  for  New  York 
this  morning,  the  21st;  and  as  Agassiz  and  many  others  of  the 
scientific  body,  consider  it  their  duty  to  attend  the  funeral  of  Mr. 
Abott  Lawrence  in  the  Auburn  Cemetery  to-morrow,  the  meeting 
must  be  nearly  at  an  end.  Professor  Bache  and  others  offered  their 
tribute  of  gratitude  yesterday  in  eulogiums  upon  Mr.  Lawrence, 
who  was  so  great  a  benefactor  to  science  that  the  sincere  regrets 
of  that  body  are  united  to  those  of  all  other  classes  upon  his 
death. 

New  York,  August  23.— I  got  to  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel  after 
a  pretty  but  dusty  journey  from  Providence.  General  Scott  will  ac 
company  me  to  West  Point.  He  is  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
American  army — an  old  soldier,  six  feet  five  inches  in  height,  who, 
although  he  still  suffers  from  wounds  received  in  warring  with  his 
old  country  brethren,  does  not  belie  his  Scotch  descent  either  in 
appearance  or  feeling.  I  have  taken  rooms  at  the  New  York  Hotel 
for  the  27th,  to  be  near  the  place  where  the  Educational  Con 
vention  will  assemble, — the  same  Convention  I  attended  at  "Wash 
ington,  and  the  next  assembling  of  which  I  then  promised  to 
visit. 

West  Point,  August  25. — This,  indeed,  is  the  finest  locality  pos 
sible  for  a  military  school,  and  it  appears  to  bestow  such  an  educa 
tion  as,  with  some  variation,  might  be  a  model  of  early  training. 
Five  years  is  the  usual  term,  and  seventeen,  or  at  earliest  fifteen,  the 
age  of  admission.  During  my  travels  in  the  United  States,  when 
ever  I  have  fallen  in  with  a  young  man  who  struck  me  as  superior 
in  information,  and  even  in  manner,  I  usually  found  he  had  been  a 
Cadet  at  West  Point.  It  is  situated  in  a  beautiful  highland  dis 
trict  upon  the  banks  of  the  North  River.  At  present  the  summer 
vacation  is  still  unconcluded,  and  the  Cadets  who  do  not  take  advan 
tage  of  it  are  encamped  in  tents  on  what  is  called  '  The  Plain,'  and 
subject  to  complete  military  rule.  Last  night  we  went  to  evening 
parade.  There  was  a  bright  moon  in  unison  with  a  glowing  sunset 
as  we  left  the  ground  ;  it  was  altogether  one  of  the  prettiest  and 
most  cheerful  scenes  I  have  witnessed  in  America,  where  one  great 


362  PALACE    OF    THE    HILLS. 

lack  is  the  absence  of  athletic  games  and  merry  out-of-door  amuse 
ments  for  the  people.  The  puritanical  leaven  has,  I  suppose,  cnecked 
everything  like  games,  and  this  may  be  one  reason  for  the  depres 
sion  and  melancholy  which  prevail  through  the  general  population. 
There  appears  to  be  no  reasonable  medium  between  rowdyism  and 
gloom ;  and  so  even  fires  are  taken  advantage  of  by  the  young  men 
and  boys  to  get  at  something  like  a  'lark.'  I  am  going  on  to  the 
Catskill  Mountains  to-morrow. 

Mountain  House,  Catskill,  August  27.— This  hotel,  hung  like  a 
bird's  nest  two  thousand  five  hundred  feet  above  the  North  River,  at 
the  distance  of  thirteen  miles,  is  placed  on  a  beautiful  spot,  just 
where  a  sunrise  can  be  seen  to  most  advantage ;  and  I  am  so  for 
tunate  as  to  have  a  room,  the  windows  of  which  look  the  right  way ; 
but  unfortunately  the  sun  rose  concealed  this  morning — still  it  was 
fine  to  see  the  clouds  chasing  each  other  across  the  moss  below.  I 
heard  a  lady  in  the  open  gallery  asking  in  sober  earnest, '  Is  the  sun 
going  to  rise  this  morning  ? '  He  was  certainly  up,  though  not  visi 
ble  ;  and  the  valley  was  soon  also  entirely  concealed.  I  went  out  by 
six  o'clock,  and  had  a  pleasant  scramble  on  one  of  the  mountains 
above  till  heavy  rain  came  on ;  but  before  seven  it  poured.  We 
came  up  the  river  from  West  Point  yesterday  in  a  steamer  going 
over  to  Albany.  I  was  surprised  to  find  the  distance  fifty  miles — 
charming  scenery  all  the  way :  in  some  places  the  Hudson  is  as 
wide  as  Windermere  Lake,  and  I  could  have  believed  myself  there ; 
and  sometimes  this  river  may  be  compared  to  the  Rhine ;  but  it 
niore  frequently  resembles  a  chain  of  Lakes.  There  is  a  good  car 
riage  road  all  the  way  to  this  place;  though  the  ascent  is  very  steep, 
we  mounted  it  in  four-horse  coaches.  I  walked  with  some  acquaint 
ances  the  last  three  miles,  and  came  through  the  scene  of  Rip  van 
Winkle's  adventures.  How  the  materials  for  building  this  great 
Palace  of  the  Hills  were  ever  dragged  up,  I  cannot  imagine.  It  was 
a  noble  thought  to  plant  it  here,  where  thousands,  if  not  millions,  of 
human  beings  will,  in  the  course  of  time,  find  enjoyment!  and  may 
regain  that  health  and  those  spirits  which  have  perhaps  been  lost  in 
the  turmoil  below.  Fresh  cool  air  may  always  be  found  here,  I  am 


CUATSKILL    WATERFALL.  363 

told,  even  during  the  hottest  summer;  and  one  feels  as  if  beyond, 
as  well  as  above,  sublunary  things.  There  is  no  church  within  reach? 
but  being  Sunday  morning,  service  was  read  by  a  minister  in  the 
house. 

After  dinner,  I  walked  with  some  friends  to  see  the  highest 
waterfall  I  ever  heard  of,  called  '  Cuatsldll,'  which  is,  I  suppose,  the 
same  as  Catskill.  The  word  'skill'  or  'gill'  originates  in  a  Dutch 
name ;  and  Clove  (as  they  here  call  a  pass  beyond)  I  have  little 
doubt,  has  its  origin  in  '  Kloof.'  The  '  Cuatskill '  pours  down  its 
stream  two  hundred  feet  into  a  deep  rocky  dell.  It  is  a  much 
higher  fall  than  the  Staubach,  in  Switzerland,  antl  the  surrounding 
scenery  is  as  picturesque,  though  without  the  high  Swiss  mountains. 
The  water  makes  another  leap  of  eighty  feet  a  little  farther  on. 

Monday  morning,  I  again  went  out  before  sunrise,  and  again  no 
sun  was  visible.  At  six  o'clock,  the  clergyman,  Mr.  W ,  ac 
companied  me  to  see  fine  masses  of  conglomerate  rock  upon  the 
Southern  Mountain  beyond  our  hotel,"  and  at  seven  we  took  our  de 
parture  through  a  deep  pass,  resembling  some  of  those  in  our  High 
lands  of  Scotland.  By  a  circuitous  route,  the  plain  below  our  hotel 
was  reached,  and  the  house  was  seen  upon  the  edge  of  the  precipice 
above  us.  A  ferry-boat  made  its  passage  from  the  small  town  of 
Catskill  across  the  North  River,  to  meet  the  cars  from  Albany,  which 
conveyed  our  party  to  New  York. 

August  28. — I  attended  the  Educational  Convention,  where  an 
excellent  farewell  address  was  delivered  by  Bache,  the  retiring  Pre 
sident.  He  dwelt  forcibly  upon  the  great  existing  necessity  for  .uni 
versities — not  mere  buildings  of  stone,  or  schools  for  youth — but  as 
semblages  of  learned  men — cosmopolitan  institutions ;  places  where 
men  not  leaaned  may  become  so ;  places  where  real  talent  may  be 
fostered,  and  where  scientific  information  can  be  found  by  all  who 
earnestly  and  diligently  seek  it, — centres  from  which  all  knowledge, 
theological,  mathematical,  historical,  scientific,  &c.  &c.,  may  radiate 
to  the  remotest  corners  of  this  vast  country,  and  imbue  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  the  great  American  people  with  something  which  shall 
direct  and  balance  the  influence  of  the  almighty  dollar.  The  Bishop 


364  EDUCATIONAL   CONVENTION. 

of  Pennsylvania  joined  the  evening  exercise,  when  a  paper  was  read 
by  Professor  Tappan,  of  Michigan,  on  the  'Relation  of  common 
Schools  and  Colleges.' 

Wednesday,  August  29.— An  excellent  lecture  was  given  by  the 
Rev.  E.  B.  Huntingdon,  principal  of  the  public  school,  Stamford, 
Connecticut,  on  *  Mental  and  Physical  Activity.'  In  the  evening  the 
Rev.  F.  B.  Huntingdon,  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  at  Cam 
bridge  University,  made  a  most  original  and  striking  address  on 
'  Unconscious  Tuition ;'  fine  in  language,  attractive  in  delivery,  and 
very  practical  in  matter,  although  permeated  throughout  by  poetical 
feeling.  He  touched  even  upon  the  ill  effects  of  the  want  of  refined 
habits,  and  the  absence  of  gentlemanly  bearing,  in  those  who  in 
struct,  and  forcibly  pointed  out  how  ugly  tricks  and  coarse  manners 
corrupt  and  debase  the  young  placed  under  their  influence.  He 
said — *  The  teacher  who  sits  in  his  chair  with  feet  placed  higher 
than  his  head,  who  munches  apples  and  nuts  like  a  monkey,  and 
even  sends  forth  American  saliva — like  a  member  of  Congress !  in 
all  these  acts  is  unconsciously  losing  the  respect  of  his  pupils,  and 
exercising  an  evil  influence  over  their  character.'  How  true  it  is, 
that  the  most  eloquent  and  accomplished  orator  has  little  permanent 
influence  when  we  feel,  perhaps  without  being  able  to  explain,  the 
effects  of  a  screw  loose  in  his  moral  character ;  perhaps  there  is  self 
ishness,  an  absence  of  honesty,  a  seeking  for  applause,  a  something 
we  know  not  what — we  have  never  been  told ;  but  unconsciously, 
while  we  admire  the  talents  of  the  orator,  we  refuse  him  our  sym 
pathy.  Unconsciously  his  character  tells  upon  our  minds — he  is  no 
thorough  man,  and  we  feel  it. 

Thursday,  August  30. — After  attending  the  Educational  Meet 
ing  in  the  morning,  I  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  with  a  party  of 
friends  on  Staten  Island.  It  reminds  me  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  but 
New  York  and  North  River,  with  their  innumerable  bays  and  creeks 
and  islands,  form  a  more  varied  and  beautiful  scene  than  the  South 
ampton  River,  and  the  coast  of  Hampshire.  It  requires  half  an  hour 
to  cross  over  by  steam ;  the  island  itself  is  picturesque,  and  well- 
wooded  :  there  is  a  particularly  pretty  view  from  a  villa  belonging 


EAST    RIVEK.  365 

to  Mr.  Cunard.  Staaten  is  sixteen  miles  in  length.  I  have  at  last 
found,  in  one  of  the  State  reports  from  Texas,  some  mention  of 
'  horned  frogs '  (Phrysonemas),  there  are  two  or  three  species  to  be 
found  in  Texas  and  Mexico ;  mine  was  Phrysonema  cornuta.  The 
Phrysonernas  are  true  saurians  ;  their  bodies,  instead  of  being  smooth 
like  frogs  and  toads,  are  covered  with  scales ;  they  never  hop  or 
leap  as  batrachians,  but  run  very  fast  like  spiders.  Their  upper 
spines  are  as  large  as  miniature  horns  of  a  gazelle.  (I  saw  at  Pro 
vidence  a  little  stuffed  deer  from  Japan,  not  much  larger  than  a 
kitten,  and  with  horns  hardly  more  considerable  than  those  of  a 
Phrysonoraa.)  They  are  singular  creatures,  and  give  one  the  idea 
of  being  stragglers  left  behind  by  one  of  the  extinct  races ;  the  sur 
face  of  their  bodies  is  covered  with  scales,  and  there  is  a  double  ab 
dominal  row,  quite  prickly. 

August  31. — The  Canada  has  brought  favourable  news  from 
England,  which  I  am  inclined  to  believe  will  be  received  with  satis 
faction  by  the  best  minds  in  the  United  States,  for  Russo  tendencies 
lie  merely  on  the  surface.  Some  of  my  friends  went  away  early, 
and  I  only  attended  the  Convention  to  hear  Professor  Barnard,  of 
the  Mississippi  University,  upon  the  improvements  that  may  be  in 
troduced  into  American  colleges. 

During  my  stay  in  New  York,  I  have  taken  one  trip  of  fifty 
miles  down  what  is  called  the  East  River.  It  is  rather  a  narrow  arm 
of  the  sea,  extending  above  a  hundred  miles,  forming  Long  Island : 
it  passes  with  a  rapid  current  through  the  narrow  passage  called 
Hellgate,  where  once  an  English  ship  was  wrecked.  The  river  is 
there  divided  by  Randall  Island,  which  I  last  year  visited  with 
Governor  Seymour  to  see  all  the  penitentiaries  and  charitable  insti 
tutions. 

September  3rd. — I  spent  some  time  in  the  Acton  Library,  where 
I  looked  over  some  of  Agassiz'  publications,  and  the  beautiful  Zoo 
logical  work  of  Dana.  In  the  evening  a  friend  took  me  to  see 
Rachel's  first  American  appearance  as  Camille.  Seventeen  years 
ago,  I  witnessed  her  London  debut  in  the  same  character.  I  think 
her  experience,  and  a  longer  cultivation  of  art,  do  not  improve  upon 


360  AMERICAN    CRYSTAL    PALACE. 

the  first  and  natural  expression  of  genius.     She  is  more  cultivated, 
but  she  cannot  touch  the  heart  now  as  she  touched  the  hearts  in  the 
year   1838.     She  was  well  received  by  a  crowded  house,  and  the 
little   Comedie  of  Les  Droits  de  FHbmme  by  Premanoy,  was  well 
acted  ;  three  sisters  of  Rachel's  performing  all  the  female  characters. 
September  4th.— I  visited  the  remains  of  the  American  Crystal 
Palace  to  see    part  of  a  Californian  mammoth  tree   (Red-wood), 
described  by  Mr.  Blake  at  Providence.     The  grandeur  and  singular 
ity  of  this  trunk  surpassed  my  expectations,  the  trees  must  appear  as 
much  larger  than  cedars,  as  cedars  exceed  hawthorns  in  size.     Some 
articles  still  remain  in  this  Crystal  Palace,  which  is  now  the  property 
of  Barnum  ;  the  building  itself,  though  so  much  smaller  than  Paxton's, 
is  less  simple  in  ornament,  and  loses  in  effect  from  being  too  elaborate. 
I  intend  to  proceed  to-morrow  in  the  direction  of  Lake  George  and 
Ticonderoga  :  in  .that  neighbourhood  I  am  to  be  joined  by  Governor 
Seymour,  who  promises  to  guide  me  through  part  of  the  Adirondack^ 
that  Highland  district  of  New  York  State,  still  a  wild  forest,  although 
it  is  as  extensive  as  the  whole  State  of  Massachusetts.     It  is  princi 
pally  frequented  by  sportsmen  for  the  sake  of  the  game  and  fish,  which 
have  been  as  yet  but  little  disturbed.     When  we  were   at  Ogdens- 
burgh  we  almost  touched  that  territory,  which  is  partly  bounded 
by  the  St.  Lawrence.     The  streets  of  New  York  are  much  shaded 
in  some  places  by  Ailanthus  glandulosa,  and  as  most  of  them   are 
now  flowering,  or  producing  their  key-like  tassels,  they  look  very  pret 
ty.     I  have  not  detected  the  disagreeable  odour  which  they  are  ac 
cused  of  emitting,  nor  have  I  heard  of  any  poisonous  influence  from 
them,  but  perhaps  something  of  that  kind  may  be  discovered  later 
in  the  season.     This  letter   shall  be  sent  from  here  by  post  now ; 
perhaps  the   beauties  of  Lake  George  may  induce  me  to  begin 
another. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTEE  XXIX. 


SARATOGA,  N.Y.,  ) 
September  5,  1855.  j 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

I  did  not  imagine  that  my  next  letter  would  date  from  this 
place,  but  imperative  circumstances  determined  that  it  should  be  so. 
We  left  New  York  by  six  o'clock  this  morning,  under  the  supposition 
that  we  were  to  reach  Lake  George  before  night ;  but  though  we  were 
at  Troy  at  eleven,  all  calculation  was  thrown  out  by  information  that 
no  train  could  take  us  on  till  six ;  we  were  not  told  that  by  going 
back  to  Albany,  another  line  might  forward  us  sooner  ;  this  one  had 
been  impeded  by  an  incendiary,  who  had  fired  a  rail  road -bridge, 
about  twenty  miles  from  this  place.  Having  once  before  visited 
Troy  and  made  acquaintances  there,  I  walked  into  the  town.  All  the 
families  I  knew  were  still  away  on  summer  tours,  a  custom  nearly 
universal  here  in  cities;  people  having  usually  no  country  places,  take 
to  the  country  at  large.  However,  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  find  some 
friends  accidentally  at  Troy,  who  afforded  me  shelter,  a  warm  bath, 
and  some  dinner,  and  kindly  walked  back  with  me  to  the  station, 
at  the  hour  of  departure.  Precisely  at  six,  the  train  left  Troy,  but 
the  one  hour  (usually  time  enough  for  reaching  Saratoga)  was  length 
ened  into  three  ;  for  at  the  river,  which  was  to  be  crossed,  passengers, 
luggage,  and  all,  had  to  be  transferred  into  a  large  ferry-boat ;  and 
it  was  necessary  to  carry  weighty  boxes  up  the  steep  bank  of  our 


368  SARATOGA. 


railway  track  on  the  opposite  side — a  slow  process.  So  we  had  two 
hours  of  travel  after  dark ;  and  I  at  once  determined  to  sleep  at  the 
United  States'  Hotel,  at  Saratoga.  Spiteful  mischief  is  too  often 
perpetrated  on  the  railroad  tracks.  Last  year  a  train  of  cars,  upon 
which  I  went  in  the  night  from  Niagara  to  Canandaigua,  was  thrown 
off  by  the  abstraction  of  a  few  feet  of  rail ;  and  the  other  day  several 
lives  were  sacrificed  by  the  same  thing  having  been  done.  I  have 
heard  lately  of  two  other  bridges  having  been  intentionally  set  on 
fire ;  and  these  fiendish  acts  are  rarely  followed  by  detection.  What 
can  be  too  bad  for  wretches  who  thus  unmercifully  destroy  unoffend 
ing  people,  out  of  some  feeling  of  individual  spite  ?  But  we  may  be 
sure  that  fear  and  remorse  will  ultimately  persecute  and  haunt  such 
men,  until  they  yearn  to  end  their  miserable  lives  by  that  rope  they 
may  for  the  present  escape. 

Saratoga,  Tuesday  Morning.— -It  is  as  well  that  I  have  been 
obliged  to  stop  at  this  place,  so  much  spoken  of,  though  watering- 
places  afford  small  attraction  to  me.  Upon  getting  up  this  morn 
ing,  however,  I  can  see  nothing  from  windows  looking  in  two  direc 
tions,  but  one  maple-tree  imprisoned  in  a  small  court ;  and  young 
maples,  set  as  thick  as  pines,  edging  angular  walks,  and  dotting 
some  green  and  well-shaven  turf,  in  a  square  enclosed  on  three  sides 
by  this  hotel.  The  air  feels  cold  and  October-like.  I  think  ther 
mometers  range  more  widely  and  vary  more  suddenly  than  in  Eng 
land  :  one  very  cold  day  succeeds  an  intensely  hot  one ;  and  then, 
perhaps,  we  have  two  hot  days  again ;  and  the  nights  are  usually 
cold  at  this  time  of  year ;  sometimes  even  frosty.  I  already  see  a 
brilliant  colouring  of  foliage,  which  shows  the  leaves  have  been 
touched  by  frost. 

Lake  George,  September  6.— I  left  Saratoga  by  the  early  train  : 
one  hour's  morning  walk  being  enough  to  give  me  some  idea  of  a 
place  which  is  a  ruralized  Baden-Baden,  or  Homburg,  or  Schwal- 
bad,  or  any  other  bad — I  daresay  a  pleasant  resort  for  people  who 
seek  only  fresh  air  and  disagreeable  water,  and  numberless  acquaint 
ances.  It  resembles  German  baths,  with  rather  less  gambling,  more 
dancing,  and  more  dressing ;  and  I  was  delighted  to  get  away  from 


LAKE    GEORGE.  369 

such  annoyances,  to  this  charming  lake,  and  to  find  myself  in  an 
hotel  quite  homelike.  A  coach  brought  us  the  last  fourteen  miles  ; 
we  came  by  Glenn's  Falls,  where  the  water  rushes  finely,  in  spite  of 
lumber  and  saw-mills,  down  a  descent  of  seventy  or  eighty  feet ;  then 
we  passed  a  place  called '  Bloody  Pond,'  the  battle  of  Lake  George 
having  been  fought  near,  in  1755.  You  may  remember,  this  en 
gagement  was  between  Sir  W.  Johnson,  aided  by  Hendrick,  the 
Mohawk  chief,  and  the  French  general  Dieskau,  with  his  Canadian 
Indians.  Now  we  are  among  the  very  scenes  depicted  in  The  Last 
of  the  Mohicans.  Cooper  calls  this  lovely  lake,  Horican  (Transpa 
rent  Water) ;  I  believe  he  confessed  it  was  a  supposititious  Indian 
name  ;  but  I  cannot  find  out  any  other  given  to  it  by  the  Aborigines. 
The  French  appellation  was  St.  Sacrament ;  that  of  the  English,  Lake 
George ;  and  both  historical  and  local  associations  now  confirm  it, 

I  am  at  an  original  hotel,  called  the  Lake  House ;  much  pleas- 
anter  and  less  staring  than  a  new  place,  built  in  a  beautiful  situation 
at  the  southern  end,  '  The  William  Henry  Hotel.'  Here  I  do  not 
feel  as  if  I  was  at  a  place  of  public  resort,  though  the  house  contains 
a  large  number  of  guests.  It  has  easy  access  to  the  water  from  a 
lawn,  for  bathing,  fishing,  or  boating,  and  bowling  and  billiards  may 
be  enjoyed  by  those  who  wish  for  them.  I  find  pleasant  families 
here  who  do  not  make  gay  attire  and  good  dinners  the  first  objects 
of  life.  Horican  (Transparent  Water),  that  was  a  characteristic 
name  !  Lake  George  unites  the  beauties  of  Loch  Lomond,  Winder- 
mere,  and  Wenham  '  Pond  ; '  and  is  as  beautiful  as  any  lake  I  kno\v, 
excepting  that  its  mountains,  though  fine,  are  not  so  rugged  as  some 
of  our  Highlands.  It  is  wide  enough,  without  the  shores  being  too 
distant  from  each  other ;  the  water  has,  in  many  places,  a  depth  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  It  empties  itself  into  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  near  Ticonderoga ;  so  called  from  Checonderoga,  an  Iroquois, 
word,  signifying  '  sounding  waters,'  on  account  of  the  noise  made  by; 
the  water  rushing  from  Lake  George.  The  Last  of  the  J\l6hicanj'. 
has  made  this  neighbourhood  doubly  interesting.  Yesterday  we 
had  a  gay  and  touching  celebratbn  of  the  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  victory  gained  by  the  British  and  Americans  over  the  Drench,  in 
17 


370  TICONDEHOGA. 

September,  1755.  My  own  maternal  grandfather  led  his  Highland 
regiment  during  the  conflict  of  those  days;  and  this  commemoration 
was  one  which  enlisted  my  sympathies.  Gentlemen  and  ladies  walked 
in  two  separate  processions  to  the  church,  where,  after  a  short  prayer 
Dr.  VanRenssalaer  gave  a  detailed  historical  account  of  the  events  of 
1755,  and  the  years  succeeding.  After  firing  oft  cannon,  there  was 
a  beautiful  array  of  boats,  decorated  with  flags ;  most  of  them  had 
only  one  lady  in  the  stern;  mine  carried  the  English  ensign.  Mrs. 
Potter  had  the  Scotch  thistle.  English  and  French  flags  waved  in 
union  on  this  occasion,  and  the  band  played  God  save  the  Queen, 
with  other  airs.  There  were  about  twenty-four  boats  marshalled  in 
line  upon  the  lake,  or  sweeping  along  in  succession,  at  the  command 
of  a  Commodore.  The  scene  was  very  gay  upon  the  beautiful  wa 
ters  ;  and,  when  night  came  on,  the  darkness  was  illuminated  by  a 
liberal  display  of  rockets  and  Roman  candles.  A  subscription  was 
proposed  for  raising  a  monument  on  the  old  battle-field  to  the  heroes 
who  fell  there,  particularly  to  the  gallant  Indian  chief,  Hendrick ; 
and  I  hope  the  object  will  be  accomplished. 

September  10. — I  went  with  a  party  in  a  steamer  thirty  miles 
up  the  lake  to  Ticonderoga,  which  is  a  small  town  on  the  Lake 
George  side  of  the  fort.  There  are  still  ditches  and  fortifications 
which  mark  the  battle-field.  Sixteen  hundred  British  were  killed  in 
that  engagement.*  The  fort  is  situated  on  a  peninsula,  which  runs 
into  Lake  Champlain  :  it  is  a  beautiful  site,  commanded  by  a  moun 
tain  which  has  been  named  Defiance.  The  rest  of  our  party  went 
to  dine  at  an  hotel  near,  but  I  remained  for  two  or  three  hours, 
sketching  and  wandering  about  the  fortifications,  which  are  very 
extensive.  This  is  the  only  interesting  ruin  I  have  seen  in  America. 

September  12. — Yesterday,  in  my  way  here,  I  stopped  for  an 
hour  or  two  at  the  hotel  to  wait  for  a  steamer.  The  landlord  took  so 
great  an  interest  in  a  sketch  of  the  fort,  which  I  made  from  a  window 
in  his  house,  that  he  would  not  hear  of  my  paying  either  for  my  own 

*  The  French  entangled  them  among  the  branches  of  felled  trees,  so 
that  their  forces  were  scattered  and  destroyed. 


GIPSY    EXPEDITION.  371 

dinner  or  R 's;  the  only  repayment  he  would  accept  was  a  hasty 

copy  of  my  drawing. 

At  Westport  I  was  fortunate  in  finding  Mr.  H.  L — — ,  who 
drove  me  up  to  see  his  pretty  cottage,  situated  upon  a  rock  which 
commands  a  splendid  view.  While  I  was  absent  this  morning, 
Governor  Seymour  arrived  with  his  niece,  and  he  has  gone  on  to 
Elizabeth  Town,  to  make  necessary  arrangements  for  our  camping 
out  of  town  in  the  Adirondack.  We  are  to  join  him  at  an  early 
hour  to-morrow  morning.  Weather  promises  to  be  favourable,  and 
the  black  fly  has  vanished,  so  that  we  have  every  prospect  of  en 
joying  our  gipsy  expedition. 

September  12. — We  started  before  six  o'clock,  and  joined  Mr. 
Seymour  at  Elizabeth  Town.  We  met  Professor  Baird,  who  is  stay 
ing  there,  and  Mr.  H ,  one  of  our  compagnons  de  voyage.  We 

set  off  after  making  backwood  arrangements,  and  selecting  kettles 
and  pans.  Tea,  biscuits,  lemons,  portable  soup,  and  arrow-root  went 
into  small  space ;  these,  with  trout  and  venison,  will  feed  us  nobly 
for  a  week.  Branches  of  the  hemlock  spruce  with  waterproof  cover 
ings,  duvets,  blankets,  and  air-cushions  will  form  our  couches ;  and  our 
Governor  carries  a  tent  in  case  of  wet  weather.  We  reached  the 
Saranac  Lake  about  an  hour  after  dark,  conveyed  by  buck -boards 
and  wagons — much  too  civilized  a  mode  of  proceeding  ;  but  we  go 
on  in  boats  or  on  foot,  and  hope  to  travel  more  than  a  hundred  miles 
with  packs  on  our  backs  and  staffs  in  our  hands — this  will  be  de 
lightful  !  On  our  way  yesterday,  we  passed  through  fine  passes  and 
grand  mountains.  I  made  one  sketch  in  which  Tahawas,  '  the  cloud 
splitter,'  was  included.  We  thought  ourselves  unhappy  at  sleeping 
in  the  little  Saranac  hotel  last  night,  though  it  was  three  in  a  room, 
constructed  of  rough  boards  and  laths  ;  still  this  will  be  the  last  time 
for  some  days  we  shall  have  any  other  canopy  than  heaven,  and 
the  small  tent  which  is  to  be  carried  with  us.  Our  drive  from 
Elizabeth  Town  to  this  place  was  about  thirty-two  miles ;  the  road 
rough,  but  practicable  by  walking  up  the  steepest  parts.  In  our 
way  we  picked  a  variety  of  wild  fruits,  blackberries,  huckleberries, 
cherries,  and  above  all,  a  little  red  plum,  which,  though  rather  hard 


372  SARANAC    LAKE. 

and  acid,  I  thought  would  make  a  good  pudding  at  our  first  camp 
in  the  woods  ;  so  I  got  enough  for  that  purpose.  It  was  quite  dark 
for  an  hour  before  we  reached  Baker's— the  name  by  which  this  last 
house  of  reception  on  the  Saranac  River  is  known.  We  had  no 
other  difficulty,  however,  than  making  our  way  once  nearly  into  a 
shed,  instead  of  following  the  road,  and  after  backing  out,  our  pro 
posed  resting-place  was  soon  reached. 

While  the  party  were  packing  up,  I  parted  with  R ,  and 

sent  her  back  in  the  carriage  to  embark  again  in  the  steamboat  to 
Westport.  She  will  go  round  by  Utica  to  Canandaigua,  to  give  Mrs. 
Seymour  a  report  of  us  so  far ;  and  I  shall  pick  her  up  again  at  the 
latter  place,  where  she  will  remain  with  our  hospitable  friends,  Mr. 

and  Mrs.  G .     Miss  M and  Mr.  S walked  on  a  mile 

or  two  to  the  lake  side,  and  left  Mr.  H and  one  guide  to  ac 
company  me,  after  I  had  made  a  sketch  of  the  place  and  surround 
ing  mountains  from  a  hill  above.  On  the  edge  of  Saranac  Lake  we 
found  a  small  house,  three  boats,  and  various  articles  prepared  for 
forest  expeditions.  One  boat  was  set  apart  for  two  dogs,  guns,  and 
baggage,  taken  care  of  by  Jamie  M'Cleland,  who  had  enough^  of 
Scotch  recollections  to  induce  him  to  look  with  a  pleased  expression 
at  one  of  my  name. 

Mr.  Moody,  the  head  guide,  rowed  the  boat,  in  which  I  had  a 
comfortable  seat  of  cloaks  and  cushions,  with  the  Governor.     Miss 

M. ,  his  niece,  and  Mr.  H ,  were  conducted  by  a  fine  youth 

of  nineteen,  who  goes  by  the  name  of  '  Prince  Albert,'  and  it  is  be 
lieved  he  was  so  christened  at  two  years  old,  though  he  looked  shy 
and  annoyed  when  asked  about  it,  and  said  he  believed  it  was 
'  Pliny  Albert.'  The  weather  was  perfect,  as  we  rowed  along  the 
beautiful  Saranac  Lake.  For  the  first  time  I  saw  the  Loon,  and 
heard  it  utter  its  wild  cry,  more  resembling  a  mocking  laugh  than 
anything  else.  I  could  have  fancied  it  saying,  '  You  intruders,  you 
—you  will  have  enough  of  this  before  you  have  done.'  A  fine 
eagle  next  soared  over  our  heads,  and  ravens  also. 

°  We  floated  on  water  as  smooth  as  glass,  passing  by  lovely  islands 
and  fine  rocks,  until  we  came  to  the  first  rapid,  an  inlet  into  the 


OUR   FIRST   ENCAMPMENT.  373 

next  lake,  where  we  disembarked,  that  the  men  might  carry  and  push 
through  their  boats.  I  sketched  during  this  operation,  while  Mr. 

S mended  the  slight  terminal  pole  of  his  fishing-rod,  which  an 

accident  had  broken  ;  then  we  proceeded  to  a  small '  round  lake,'  pret 
tily  set  among  the  mountains,  but  very  shallow,  the  rushes  and  Lily- 
pods  growing  plentifully  over  it.  Now  we  had  a  portage.  Each 
man  carried  a  boat  on  his  head,  and  we  loaded  ourselves  with  as 

much  as  we  could  carry.     M and  I  filled  my  Scotch  plaid  with 

baskets  and  bundles,  and  we  bore  it  between  us.  The  distance  was 
short,  but  it  was  above  an  hour  before  we  were  again  afloat  in  the 
Upper  Saranac,  at  the  end  of  which  our  first  encampment  was  to  be 
made.  Upon  landing,  we  chose  a  pretty  spot ;  the  guides  hastily 
built  up  a  great  log  fire.  I  gathered  up  some  brush  and  fir-cones  to 
help  the  blaze,  and  we  broke  off  small  branches  (or  *  feathers '  )  of 
the  hemlock  spruce,  which  makes  the  sweetest  and  best  foundation 
for  an  Alpine  couch  in  this  country — sweeter  than,  if  not  so  pretty 
as  our  heather.  Over  this  the  Governor  spread  a  thin  oilskin.  My 
air-cushions  were  most  valuable  ;  we  puffed  them  up,  and  with  these, 
my  leather  bag  as  a  bolster,  large  plaids  and  felt  coverings,  and  Mary 
M 's  black  and  scarlet  shawl  as  a  curtain  of  division,  we,  two  la 
dies,  and  two  gentlemen,  slept  soundly,  after  making  a  hearty  sup 
per  off  trout  and  potatoes.  I  had  provided  a  dozen  lemons,  aware 
that  when  no  milk  can  be  had,  the  juice  is  an  excellent  addition  to 
tea,  and  this  plan  was  unanimously  approved.  To  our  guides  the 
idea  was  quite  new ;  and,  as  all  forest  fare  is  common  pot-luck,  they 
were  quite  pleased.  'It  isn't  bad,' — '  Right  fine,  I'll  assure  you  ;' 
but  the  first  sentence  implies  almost  as  high  praise  as  '  It  won't 
hurt  you  ; '  and  that  is  the  acme.  I  concocted  my  pudding  with  the 
wild-plums,  deprived  of  their  stones,  biscuit,  brown  sugar,  a  little 
butter,  and  some  water  ;  but,  as  some  hours'  stewing  was  necessary, 
this  dish  was  not  produced  before  our  breakfast.  One  of  the  boats 
was  turned  upside  down  for  a  table  ;  our  candlestick,  a  large  potato 
placed  upon  a  tin  pail  inverted.  The  guides  bivouacked  close  around 
the  little  tent.  About  half-past  two  o'clock,  according  to  a  common 
habit  in  the  forests,  we  all  roused  up  for  half-an-hour,  replenished  the 


374  GOOD    FISHING. 


fire,  and  I  removed  my  stew  to  a  little  fire  of  its  own,  that  it  might 
not  get  quite  stewed  away  before  morning.  We  then  again  com 
posed  ourselves  to  sleep  again,  and  had  comfortable  naps  till  day 
light.  During  the  night  I  heard  a  horrible  noise  once  or  twice,  and, 
imagining  it  might  be  the  howl  of  a  wolf,  I  called  to  Moody,  who 
assured  me  it  was  nothing  but  a  screech-owl.  At  five  o'clock  began 
preparations  for  breakfast— frying  pork,  boiling  trout  and  potatoes, 
and  water  for  the  kettle  of  tea ;  at  last,  trout  were  broiled  in  the 
same  pan  with  the  pork  gravy,  an  excellent  dish.  We  two  ladies 
went  down  to  the  lake  to  make  our  toilet,  and  balanced  ourselves  in 
one  of  the  empty  boats,  to  use  tooth-brushes,  &c.  While  the  rest  of 
the  party  were  packing  up,  and  preparing  to  undertake  the  portage 
to  Story  Creek,  I  made  a  sketch  before  the  tent  was  struck,  and 
caught  one  of  the  men  in  the  act  of  carrying  the  boat,  with  his  head 
concealed  underneath,  like  some  nondescript  shell-fish. 

Before  we  started,  the  gentlemen  hung  a  small  mirror  of  M 's 

on  a  tree,  and  very  composedly  shaved  themselves.  The  guides 
took  the  boats  upon  their  heads,  and  after  two  returns  they  trans 
ported  all  the  baggage  the  rest  of  the  party  could  not  carry  through 
two  miles  of  difficult  portage.  Then  we  reached  the  Otter's  Creek 
and  Raquette  River,  where  at  last,  at  the  junction  of  the  streams, 
there  was  such  good  fishing,  that  a  long  pause  ensued.  The  trout 
were  large  and  plentiful.  The  Governor  caught  several,  weighing 

from  two  to  three  pounds.     Mr.  II lost  two  of  his  best ;  one 

owing  to  his  young  boatman,  and  the  other  owing  to  his  own  hurry 
in  pulling  up  his  prize.  I  landed  to  sketch  the  scenery,  and  was  so 
much  absorbed  as  to  leave  my  parasol  in  a  bush.  We-rowed  back 
half  a  mile  for  its  recovery ;  however,  Mr.  Moody  took  this  trouble 
without  a  murmur,  and  Mr.  S—  -  having  extremely  enjoyed  his 
sport,  I  believe  he  was  rather  pleased  to  take  another  look  at  that 
pleasant  locality.  We  did  not  again  join  the  other  boats  until  our 
arrival  at  the  next  rapids,  where  we  were  obliged  to  resign  ourselves 
to  another  tedious  portage  ;  but  the  row  down  Raquette  River  had 
been  delightful— it  flows  through  a  deep  forest  of  maples,  pines,  and 
tamarisks;  the  crimson  tints  of  autumn  blending  with  dark  and 


DEER    HUNTING.  375 

orange  foliage,  tiny  seedling  red  maples  dotting  the  rocks  and  the 
bogs  ;  the  cantinal  flower-blue  gentian,  and  lilac  asters  occasionally 
showing  themselves ;  but  through  this  whole  region,  the  autumnal 
flora  has  not  a  great  deal  of  variety.  I  gathered  some  berries  of  a 
PJiamnus,  saw  very  large  leaved  willows  and  species  of  Varcineum 
(one  very  good  indeed) ;  the  scarlet  berries  of  Cannas  Canadena 
everywhere  enlivened  the  forest ;  and  there  were  also  the  white  Par 
tridge  berry,  bright  trillium  seeds,  and  the  large  and  small  winter- 
green,  gautheria  shallor  procumbens. 

Now  and  then  the  starry  flowers  of  Houstonias  lingered  on  the 
ground,  and  raspberries  and  low  blackberries  refreshed  us  on  our 
way — these,  with  the  exception  of  white  and  yellow  Nymphaes,  called 
by  the  people  '  Lilypods,'  were  all  I  saw  of  flowers  or  seeds.  Deer 
feed  much  on  these  lily  pods  early  in  the  season,  and  as  they  come 
down  to  the  rivers  and  lakes  in  search  of  their  tender  shoots,  they 
fall  an  easy  prey  at  that  period ;  but  now  they  feed  upon  higher 
ground,  so  dogs  are  sent  off  who  hunt  out  a  single  one,  and  chase 
him  down  to  any  part  of  the  lakes,  where  they  are  loosed ;  there 
they  keep  him  in  the  water,  and  by  their  baying  call  their  masters 
to  finish  the  chase.  Our  gentlemen  were  not  successful  in  shooting 
any,  because,  owing  to  the  long  distance  we  had  to  travel  through 
this  wilderness  (about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles),  the  mornings 
could  not  be  spared  for  hunting ;  and  although  two  attempts  were 
made  by  despatching  the  hounds  in  the  afternoon,  they  did  not  bring 
their  game  back  until  too  dark  for  even  the  accustomed  to  get  a  shot. 
Maple  and  birch  are  considered  the  best  wood  with  which  to  build  a 
fire:  the  common  distinguishing  phrase  is  'hard  and  soft  wood.' 
Hard  is  applied  to  deciduous  trees,  soft  to  the  pines  and  evergreens. 
*  How  finely  the  soft  and  hard  trees  are  mixed  on  that  mountain,' 
•said  one  of  our  paity. 

Upon  landing  below  the  Raquette  Falls,  we  had  a  mile  and  a 
half  of  difficult  portage :  the  signs  of  a  trail  were  at  times  hardly 
visible  ;  gigantic  timber  felled  by  storms,  or  by  time,  crossed  the 
obscure  path,  sometimes  every  twenty  yards  ;  deep  bogs,  and  slip 
pery  rocks  impeded  it,  and  we  had  often  to  retrace  our  steps,  or  seek 


376  OUR   TOILET. 

a  blazed  tree  before  we  could  find  our  way ;  each  individual  of  the 
party  straggled  on  as  he  or  she  could,  with  their  load.  When  Mr. 

g had  conveyed  his  to  the  edge  of  the  river  above  the  Falls,  he 

kindly  returned  to  relieve  me  of  whatever  basket  or  bundle  I  had 
been  able  to  carry;  and  so  we  all  at  last  reached  our  intended 
camping  place,  a  beautiful  spot.  Our  tent  was  soon  pitched,  a  bright 
fire  in  front  of  it  was  lit,  just  at  the  edge  of  the  water,  and  another 
blaze,  for  cooking,  made  near  to  our  boat-table.  The  largest  trout 
was  boiled,  the  smaller  ones  broiled,  with  excellent  potatoes,  for  our 
supper ;  tea-lemonade  our  beverage.  As  an  awakening  amusement 
for  an  hour  afterwards,  we  played  a  game  of  whist,  with  a  not  very 
white  pack  of  cards,  procured  from  one  of  the  guides;  and  then 
after  arranging  our  couch  as  before,  we  slept  very  soundly  till  after 
one  o'clock,  when  the  fires  were  made  up,  and  then  we  slept  till 
again  morning ;  not  a  sound  disturbed  the  forest,  except  that  of  the 
rippling  waters  at  our  feet ;  but  when  we  awoke  at  six,  a  gentle  rain 
pattered  upon  the  surrounding  trees.  However,  it  was  no  more 
than  '  the  pride  of  the  morning,'  just  enough  to  make  us  more  sen 
sible  of  the  blessing  of  fine  weather.  M.  M selected  a  sheltered 

rocky  nook,  a  little  way  back  for  our  dressing-room  ;  there  we  bathed, 
and  adjusted  our  toilet  with  brushes,  combs,  tooth-brushes,  a  luxury 
of  towels,  and  even  a  tiny  mirror  hung  upon  the  lowest  branch  of  a 
fine  hemlock  spruce ;  this  smartening  up  of  the  individual  woman 
marked  our  Sunday  morning,  for  no  Sabbath-day's  rest  can  be  set 
apart  for  travellers  in  the  Bush,  who  must  get  to  their  journey's  end 
by  a  certain  clay,  or  go  without  the  common  necessaries  of  existence. 
We  came  forth  again  arrayed  in  cleanliness  :  its  opposite  is  at  times 
picturesque,  but  certainly  not  comfortable.  On  the  whole,  I  was 
impressed  by  the  tidy  habits  of  our  three  guides ;  they  omitted  no 
opportunity  for  using  the  fresh  pure  water  to  wash  away  impurities,' 
either  on  their  hands  or  upon  our  culinary  matters,  and  never  left 
cup  or  platter  in  a  soiled  state,  if  they  could  help  it. 

Before  our  starting,  the  Governor  rowed  me  over  to  the  opposite 
shore  for  a  sketch  of  our  resting-place.  A  few  miles  further  up  the 
Raquette  River  some  of  our  party  saw  the  track  of  a  wolf,  and  we 


LONG    LAKE. 


377 


heard  the  partridge  drum :  this  noise  is  caused  by  the  wing  of  that 
bird,  which  in  plumage  is  like  ours,  but  in  size  it  comes  nearer  to 
our  pheasant.  Wild-ducks  appeared  numerous,  but  they  kept  at  a 
distance.  Now  again  we  got  sight  of  distant  mountains ;  of  late, 
the  forests  and  swamps  have  been  low  and  flat.  The  approach  to 
Long  Lake  is  so  thickly  covered  with  lilypods,  rushes,  and  other 
water-plants,  that  it  seemed  as  if  we  were  making  our  way  across 
watery  meadows.  When  we  reached  the  lake  itself,  the  wind  blew 
freshly,  and  our  boatmen  had  to  row  eighteen  miles  against  it  and 
the  wavelets  which  arose.  Occasional  settlements  dot  the  shores  :  a 
boy  of  ten  years  old  paddled  his  little  boat  towards  us,  and  when 
we  asked  him  if  many  people  lived  there,  he  answered,  '  There  is 
the  baby,  and  a  few  more.'  Evidently,  that  baby  was  the  individual 
of  most  importance.  We  again  saw  wild-ducks,  an  eagle,  a  gull, 
and  a  loon ;  and  at  one  spot  (a  rare  sight  in  this  wilderness)  two 
small  wagons  were  waiting  to  be  transported  across  the  lake. 

A  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carey,  with  a  family  of  young  children,  possess 
ing  cows  and  horses,  and  a  house  in  the  background,  lived  just 
behind  the  rocky  knoll  where  we  decided  upon  forming  our  encamp- 
ment — under  some  tall  pine  trees :  they  supplied  us  with  excellent 
milk  and  bread  and  butter,  an  unaccustomed  luxury,  and  also  with 
some  straw  for  our  beds.  Mrs.  Carey,  a  pleasing  young  woman, 
visited  us  with  a  present  of  blackberries  after  supper.  The  '  Owl's 
Head'  was  a  prominent  mountain  beyond,  and  a  young  crescent 
moon  arose  not  far  above  it.  In  the  morning  we  had  some  fine  rain ; 
but  with  the  aid  of  my  large  umbrella,  I  did  not  miss  a  sketch  of 
our  camp :  and  the  palmetto  fly-flapper  I  had  brought  all  the  way 
from  Mobile  proved  of  great  use  in  frightening  away  mosquitoes. 
Alas  !  I  afterwards  lost  it  during  one  of  the  portages.  Here  it  was 
decided  to  leave  one  boat.  Mr.  Carey  was  to  convey  the  chief  guide 
with  a  second  one  in  a  wagon,  a  cross-cut  through  the  woods ;  and 
we  all  packed  into  the  remaining  boat,  as  there  was  some  probable 
difficulty  in  getting  through  rapids  and  portages.  The  guns  and 
dogs  having  both  been  conveyed  to  the  land  carriage,  whole  flights 
of  ducks  passed  fearlessly  within  shot,  as  if  they  had  by  some  means 
17* 


378  A    VARIETY    OF    FUNGUSES. 

become  aware  of  their  security.  After  two  or  three  portages,  fatigu 
ing  and  difficult  enough,  the  men  determined  to  attempt  pushing 
the  boat  through  the  last  rapid.  Now  touching  one  rock,  now  fast 
upon  another,  the  water  rushing  by,  I  did  not  think  the  adventure  a 
pleasant  one ;  at  last  we  came  to  a  dead  lock.  Jamie  M'Cleland 

proposed  that  Governor  Seymour  and  Mr.  II should  jump  upon 

a  rock,  water-surrounded  as  it  was,  and  by  so  lightening  the  boat, 
we  were  with  difficulty  floated  up  to  a  landing  :  here  we  quickly 
heard  Moody's  whoop,  and  he  came  up  with  a  partridge  he  had 
killed  during  his  progress  by  land :  and  soon  the  whole  party  was 
again  mustered,  for  our  gentlemen  had  waded  on  shore  from  their 
rock  and  thus  rejoined  us.  This  day  we  saw  the  track  of  a  moose- 
deer  on  the  edge  of  a  stream ;  plenty  of  tracks  and  signs  of  smaller 
deer :  one  or  two  solitary  cranes,  and  a  bald-headed  eagle.  It  was 
muddy  walking ;  we  were  thoroughly  bespattered,  but  Jamie  endea 
voured  to  console  us  by  the  assurance  that  he  had  '  seen  women 
looking  much  worse.' 

In  these  forests,  the  variety  of  funguses  is  beyond  description ; 
some,  just  like  beautiful  white  coral.  Many  were  in  form  and  sub 
stance  quite  different  from  any  drawings  or  models  I  have  seen;  the 
colours  scarlet,  orange,  pink,  pure  white,  black,  drab,  and  rose ;  and 
bunches  of  that  odd  monotrope,  the  Indian  pipe,  constantly  fringed 
our  path.  It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  something  nourishing  in  the 
air  of  these  Alpine  forests  :  I  never  felt  very  hungry,  although  our 
meals  were  far  apart,  and  usually  very  light  in  substance.  As  we 
rowed  down  the  Eaquette  Lake,  I  observed  a  yellow  sunset,  with 
heaped-up  clouds  to  the  south,  and  a  suspicion  crossed  my  mind 
that  stormy  weather  was  brewing.  At  a  rough  clearing,  our  guides 
pulled  up.  A  shanty  belonging  to  a  Mr.  Beech  was  not  a  great 
way  off,  and,  oddly  enough,  there  was  another  clearing  on  the  oppo 
site  shore  of  the  lake,  owned  by  a  Mr.  Wood. 

Our  tent  was  pitched  on  a  cleared  spot,  near  where  a  famous 
eagle  once  had  his  eyrie  upon  a  tall  pine  ;  both  pine  and  eagle  are 
g0ne — the  latter  died,  and  the  former  was  blown  down.  Some  dried 
venison  was  procured,  and  a  neighbour  provided  milk.  We  com- 


A    STORMY    NIGHT. 


379 


posed  ourselves  to  rest,  and  slept  till  midnight;  then  growling 
thunder,  vivid  lightning,  and  pouring  rain  disturbed  our  slumbers. 
A  wet  morning  followed,  and  any  intention  of  striking  our  tent  was 
abandoned.  It  was  a  violent  storm— probably  an  equinoctial  gale. 
We  had  only  to  be  patient  and  enduring,  with  the  conviction  that 
« Time  and  the  hour  runs  through  the  roughest  day.' 

In  the  afternoon  the  weather  cleared,  and  we  went  by  the  lake 
to  visit  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Beech,  while  the  gentlemen  and  the  guides 
went  off  hunting.  But  their  dogs  did  not  immediately  find,  and 
again,  it  was  too  dark  to  shoot  a  deer  which  was  hunted  down  to  the 
water.  The  ladies  returned  to  our  tent,  arid  as  I  had  a  reserved 
provision  of  arrowroot,  I  determined  to  make  a  large  kettleful, 
flavoured  with  lemons  and  molasses,  adding  to  it  a  portion  of 
Malaga,  and  putting  in  biscuits.  This  made  a  comforting  warm  mess 
for  the  cold  and  tired  hunters  upon  their  return. 

After  the  violent  rain  of  last  night  and  to-day,  we  found  our 
hemlock  spruce  beds  rather  damp,  although  the  guides  had  turned 
the  tent  so  as  to  face  a  large  fire,  and  accommodate  it  to  a  change 
of  wind.  In  spite  of  all  the  wet,  however,  no  colds  were  caught, 
and  early  on  the  20th  of  September  we  embarked  again  on  the  lake 
in  high  spirits.  The  guides  had  stowed  themselves  under  one  of  the 
boats  during  the  night,  which  perhaps  sheltered  them  even  more 
completely  than  our  tent  did  us. 

During  this  last  pause  in  our  wanderings,  we  could  not  help 
being  struck  by  the  wild,  careless,  picturesque  appearance  inside 
that  tent.  Seated  upon  the  floor,  where  we  were  taking  our  meals, 
with  pans  of  tea,  and  plates  of  tin,  air-cushions,  and  variously  col 
oured  plaids  and  felts  scattered  around ;  sketch-books  and  presses, 
books  and  maps ;  a  large  tin  case,  containing  our  store  of  grocery,  a 
huge  basket  full  of  biscuits,  a  hammer  ensconced  among  bunches  of 
berries ;  tallow  candles,  under  protection  from  the  damp,  towels,  hats, 
bonnets,  and  other  articles  of  attire  impartially  scattered  ;  accidental 
ly  bestowed  touches  of  scarlet  and  blue  upon  the  interior,  lit  up  as 
it  was  by  the  warm  glow  of  a  blazing  wood  fire — this  would  have 
formed  a  picture  for  Gerard  Dow. 


380  THE    EIGHT    LAKES. 

I  forgot  to  say  we  ate  Mr.  Moody 's  partridge  for  beakfast,  and 
it  proved  excellent.  I  did  not  omit  to  sketch  this  encampment  be 
fore  we  left  it.  As  we  rowed  up  the  Raquette  Lake,  a  slight  snow 
storm  overtook  us,  but  it  was  soon  over.  Even  during  that  early 
morning,  with  its  fog  and  snow,  the  lake  was  beautiful,  with  numer 
ous  bays  and  islands,  and  blue  mountains  rising  in  the  distance.  We 
passed  through  a  narrow  channel  for  some  way,  then  disembarked 
for  a  portage  to  the  eighth  lake  of  the  Eckford  chain  ;  for  eight  lakes 
of  differing  magnitude  are  strung  upon  the  Moose  River,  and  we 
were  to  pass  through  all.  We  now  found  a  sandy  beach  which  be 
fore  had  been  rocky.  The  cheerful  little  crossbill  hopped  fearlessly 
around  us,  and  wild-ducks  flew  away.  After  rowing  across  the 
eighth,  another  portage  brought  us  to  the  seventh  lake.  There  was 
some  difficulty  in  pushing  the  boats  over  a  sandy  bar  at  its  entrance 
from  the  narrow  stream  we  had  just  traversed.  The  seventh  lake 
is  quite  encircled  by  hills.  We  observed  a  tempting  rocky  promon 
tory,  and  as  the  sun  was  getting  low,  we  decided  upon  landing  upon 
a  pretty  sheltered  beach  behind  it. 

Our  tent  was  pitched  behind  a  gigantic  fallen  tree,  against 
which  the  fire  was  made  :  it  served  as  a  convenient  table  for  our  cook 
ing  operations,  as  well  as  a  good  back  for  the  blaze.  I  made  a  can 
of  excellent  portable  soup,  a  provision  we  had  before  tried  with  suc 
cess  ;  but  now  I  added  a  little  arrowroot,  an  onion,  potatoes,  two  or 
three  spoonsful  of  sweet  wine,  and  several  biscuits.  It  was  generally 
agreed  that  this  mixture  '  would  not  hurt  anybody  ; '  indeed  it 
might  anywhere  have  been  considered  an  excellent  soup. 

I  found  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  portable  soup,  or  a  quarter  of  a 
pound  of  arrowroot  necessary  to  make  the  quantity  sufficient  for 
seven  hungry  bodies.  Although  I  brought  these  things  with  me 
from  England  more  than  a  year  ago,  they  were  in  good  preservation  ; 
and  I  recommend  London  portable  soup  to  all  travellers  in  the  Bush, 
and  advise  them  also  to  add  lemons  and  a  good  store  of  sugar,  brown 
and  white,  to  their  other  preparations.  We  had  a  bright  moon  this 
evening.  Some  hunters  and  fishers  were  upon  the  lake,  and  from  the 
latter  our  people  procured  trout,  and  all  enjoyed  this  camp  particular- 


MODERN    MIRANDAS.  381 

ly,  even  though  no  deer  were  attained.  We  had  a  misty  morning, 
but  the  mountain  tops  soon  peered  out.  We  again  embarked,  and 
passed  from  one  lake  into  others,  sometimes  by  such  narrow  outlets 
that  there  was  a  difficulty  in  finding  them,  until  at  the  last  our  boatmen 
rowed  twice  a  considerable  distance  before  a  swampy-looking  egress 
was  discovered  :  this  led  us  into  a  pretty  winding  creek,  and  another 
short  portage  brought  us  below  the  falls  of  the  Moose  River  into  its 
rapid  stream.  Here  we  had  only  one  boat.  The  Governor  (for  our 
other  gentlemen  had  been  obliged  to  leave  us  before  we  entered  the 
chain  of  lakes)  walked  on  to  make  some  arrangements  at  Arnold's 
Farm,  and  we  two  ladies,  in  charge  of  Mr.  Moody  and  M'Cleland, 
had  a  plesant  row,  seeing  many  canvas-back  ducks  before  us  in  the 
river.  The  former  shot  one,  which  I  have  no  doubt  would  have 
been  very  good  for  dinner,  but  we  never  had  any  time  or  opportuni 
ty  for  trying  the  experiment.  Mr.  Seymour  remained  to  make 
arrangements  with  the  guides  while  his  niece  and  I  walked  on  to 
Arnold's  Farm.  There  we  found  Mrs.  Arnold  and  six  daughters. 
These  girls,  aged  from  twelve  to  twenty,  were  placed  in  a  row 
against  one  wall  of  the  shanty,  with  looks  so  expressive  of  astonish 
ment,  that  I  felt  puzzled  to  account  for  their  manner,  till  their 
mother  informed  us  they  had  never  before  seen  any  other  woman 
than  herself !  I  could  not  elicit  a  word  from  them ;  but,  at  last, 
when  I  begged  for  a  little  milk,  the  eldest  went  and  brought  me  a 
glass.  I  then  remembered  that  we  had  met  a  single  hunter  rowing 
himself  in  a  skiff  on  the  Moose  River,  who  called  out,  '  Where  on  the 
'arth  do  they  women  come  from  ? '  And  our  after-experience  fully 
explained  why  ladies  are  rare  birds  in  that  locality.  At  this  place 
we  expected  to  find  horses,  but  owing  to  our  twenty-four  hours'  de 
tention  on  Raquette  Lake,  they  had  been  sent  off  to  bring  up  some 
gentlemen  from  Brown's  Tract ;  pedestrianism  was  therefore  our 
only  resource.  Jamie  M'Cleland  came  up  from  the  river  and  ex 
plained  that  unless  we  made  some  further  progress  this  evening, 
we  should  not  be  able  to  get  through  the  forest  during  daylight  to 
morrow,  and  delay  was  of  importance,  so  we  decided  upon  trudging  on 
as  far  as  possible.  Jamie  took  the  tent  on  his  back,  and  Mr.  Sey- 


382 

mour  and  the  other  guides  were  to  follow  as  soon  as  they  could 
select  positive  necessaries  from  our  baggage.  Mrs.  Arnold  was  fu 
rious — she  did  all  but  try  to  detain  us  by  force— declared  we  could  not 
get  on,  and  that  she  should  soon  see  us  back  again  ;  but  necessity 
has  no  law :  we  felt  the  importance  of  determination,  and  we  had 
become  too  experienced  gipsies  to  fear  camping  out.  For  one 
mile  we  had  a  pleasant  path,  then  commenced  the  series  of  bog-holes 
which,  with  few  and  short  intervals,  were  to  be  scramble*!  through 
for  sixteen  miles.  The  worst  was,  that  as  night  closed  in,  we  could 
not  find  a  dry  spot  upon  which  to  pitch  our  tent.  At  last  we  sent 
Jamie  on,  and  he  brought  us  the  news  that,  at  a  short  distance,  he 
had  found  a  little  knoll  above  the  bogs. 

Dark  as  it  was,  we  reached  this  spot  without  any  other  mishap 
than  an  occasional  flounder  in  the  mud ;  but  all  the  lumber  around 
was  soaking  wet.  jSTo  fire  could  be  made  till  our  guide  had  cut 
down  a  tree — for  he  had  not  forgotten  his  axe ;  and  his  experienced 
arm  soon  felled  a  birch  of  considerable  size,  cut  it  in  logs  about  two 
yards  long,  and  so  built  up  a  fire,  which  we  assisted  in  lighting,  by 
breaking  off  dry  brush  from  the  surrounding  bush.  Jamie  worked 
hard;  and  before  Mr.  Seymour  and  the  other  guides  joined  us  with 
exclamations  of  astonishment  how  we  had  ever  got  through  the 
places  which  had  nearly  swamped  them,  the  tent  was  raised,  hem 
lock  branches  gathered,  and  a  good  fire  blazed  all  ready  for  cooking 
operations.  The  young  moon  occasionally  peeped  through  the 
foliage  above  our  heads ;  but  it  was  too  thick  for  much  light  to  be 
visible.  Our  only  misfortune  at  that  moment  was  the  sufferings  of 
poor  young  Prince  Albert,  who  lay  upon  the  ground  agonized  and 
quite  useless.  We  gave  him  what  comfort  we  could ;  and  I  ad 
ministered  camphor,  which  soothed  the  pain,  and  enabled  him  to 
get  asleep.  Our  head  guide  told  me  he  knew  the  value  of  that  sub 
stance  in  most  cases  of  slight  illness ;  and  that  he  seldom  went  into 
the  forest  unprovided  with  some  of  it. 

Before  daylight  next  morning  we  again  aroused  ourselves. 
Fortunately  sufficient  portable  soup  and  arrowroot  was  still  left  to 
make  a  good  warm  mess  for  breakfast ;  and  this  nourishment  is  so 


DEPARTURE    OF    THE    GUIDES.  383 

lasting,  that,  with  the  exception  of  'half  a  biscuit  and  some  water, 
I  got  on  upon  it  till  we  reached  our  resting  place  at  Bonville,  after 
nine  in  the  evening.  At  this  encampment,  we  parted  from  our 
three  guides,  who  had  conducted  themselves  excellently  well  through 
all  our  difficulties.  Jamie,  a  Canadian,  was  going  back  to  take  his 
vouno-  wife,  of  nineteen  (to  whom  he  had  been  four  years  married), 
to  his  father's  house,  near  Montreal.  *  An'  wont  she  be  glad  to  see 
me  back.  I  wouldn't  change  my  gal  for  any  gal  in  the  States,  or 
in  Canada  either.'  Jamie  is  a  sober,  handy  fellow.  I  feel  sure  he  is 
a  good  husband,  as  he  certainly  made  a  thoughtful,  intelligent  at 
tendant  on  us  two  women  in  the  Bush.  The  Governor  fell  in  with 
Mr.  Wood,  of  Kaquette  Lake,  at  Arnold's,  and  engaged  him  to  see 
us  safely  through  the  concluding  passage  of  our  travels ;  but,  as  the 
only  chance  of  getting  assistance  to  meet  us,  it  was  necessary  to 
send  him  on.  Mr.  Seymour  must  always  be  considered  a  brave  man, 
for  having  undertaken  alone,  to  take  us  that  day's  walk;  but  having 
never  passed  through  this  track  before,  he  was  happily  not  fully 
aware  of  what  he  undertoook,  or  he  confesses  he  should  have  been 
afraid.  The  path  we  had  to  follow  was  a  road  cut  through  the  forest 
fifty  years  ago ;  planks  had  been  laid  down  and  corduroy  bridges 
made ;  but,  as  no  settlement  followed,  left  to  entire  neglect,  the  rotten 
timbers  only  made  bad  worse ;  and  I  imagine  that  it  would  be  im 
possible  to  find  anywhere  a  track  so  difficult  to  get  over  as  that 
through  which  we  patiently  laboured  for  ten  consecutive  hours. 
Mr.  Seymour's  patience  and  good  humour  never  gave  way. 
Putting  off  the  packages  on  his  back  he  now  extricated  one  com 
panion,  now  another,  from  a  boggy  '  fix.'  I  never  shall  forget  the 
astonishment  of  Mr.  Stephens,  of  yacht  celebrity,  when,  on  horseback 
with  another  gentleman  and  guides,  he  met  us  emerging  from  the 
Bush !  They  had  four  horses ;  and  our  avant-courier,  Mr.  Wood, 
had  secured  one  of  them,  upon  which  I  mounted ;  and,  although  it 
was  not  easy  to  keep  my  seat  upon  a  man's  saddle  in  getting  over 
such  ground,  I  soon  found  the  benefit  of  being  carried  on  the  last 
few  miles  by  some  other  agency  than  my  own  feet.  Mr.  Seymour 
and  his  niece  walked  on ;  in  one  mile  more  we  again  reached  the 


384  EARLY    MEMORIES. 

Moose  River,  and  crossed  it  in  a  boat;  and  another  two  hours 
brought  us  to  the  clearing,  where  a  small  wagon  was  procured — 
rough  enough,  but  still  a  wagon — which  took  us  to  a  comfortable 
hotel,  at  the  small  town  of  Bonville,  from  whence,  after  a  good 
night's  rest,  we  got  on  by  coach  and  cars  to  Utica.  A  singular  and 
touching  circumstance  occurred  to  me  in  the  coach.  An  old  man 
and  a  younger  one  conversed  in  Welsh.  I  could  not  help  inquiring 
what  part  of  Wales  they  came  from,  for  that  tongue  awoke  in  my 
heart  early  memories.  The  old  man  knew  Caermarthen;  had  been 
at  Abergwilly,  and  spoke  of  my  father  as  '  that  charity  man.' 
David  Owen  was  quite  blind ;  but  that  meeting  was  pleasant  to  us 
both.  After  fifty  years  to  hear  one's  father's  name  spoken  of  with 
respect  and  affection,  in  this  far  distant  land!  There  are  many 
Welsh  people  settled  hereabouts.  Owen's  home  was  a  small  village 
near  Trenton  Falls.  As  we  passed  over  a  bridge, — 
'Now,'  he  said,  '  we  are  near  my  home.' 

*  Not  being  able  to  see,  how  do  you  know  that  ? ' 

*  Ah !  do  I  not  understand  the  voice  of  that  bridge  ? '     And  one 
or  two  miles  beyond,  the  old  man  and  I  parted,  he  shaking  me  by 
the  hand,  with  his  blessing.     Three  days  at  Utica  were  necessary  to 
recruit  and  repose  myself.     Now  I  write  from  Canandaigua,  on  the 
eve  of  starting  for  Chicago  and  St.  Louis. 

Buffalo,  September  27. — We  left  Canandaigua  at  ten  this  morn 
ing  ;  but,  having  reached  this  place  by  four,  we  cannot  proceed  till 
half-past  nine  o'clock.  By  travelling  all  night,  we  may  arrive  at 
Chicago  to-morrow  evening,  and  be  at  St.  Louis  next  day. 

Chicago,  Friday  night. — We  have  travelled  four  hundred  and 
ninety-two  miles  since  ten  o'clock  last  night;  very  rapidly  and 
pleasantly  to-day,  only  changing  cars  at  Toledo.  The  previous 
night's  journey  was  a  crowded  one ;  a  great  number  of  the  men  in 
the  carriages  indulged  themselves  in  the  habits  of  the  backwoods, 
which  made  them  very  unpleasant  neighbours,  although  their  ap 
pearance  was  respectable ;  and  I  was  glad  of  a  change  which  gave 
us  another  set  of  fellow-travellers.  The  country  between  this  place 
and  Cleveland  is  in  a  rapid  course  of  settlement.  There  is  not  an 


AMERICAN    AND    ENGLISH    SOLDIERS.  385 

evergreen  of  any  kind  to  be  seen — neither  firs,  spruce,  nor  cedars ; 
the  forest  consists  entirely  of  '  hard '  wood  trees,  of  which  there  is  a 
great  variety — chiefly  beech,  oak,  plane,  ash,  and  poplar.  I  did  not 
observe  much  hiccory,  or  any  acacias;  and,  as  the  timber  is  not  on 
the  whole  of  grea,t  size,  I  suppose  there  is  less  difficulty  in  making 
clearings  in  this  district  than  in  some  others  I  have  passed  through. 
Numerous  towns  are  starting  up — as  usual,  with  names  not  particu 
larly  well  selected. 

After  Toledo,  we  passed  through  Hudson,  Hillsdale,  Jonesville, 
Cold  water,  White  Pigeon,  &c.  &c.  On  approaching  Chicago,  the 
country  begins  to  acquire  a  prairie  character;  and  I  saw  such  large 
fields  of  grain,  and  so  many  signs  of  improved  farming,  that  but  for 
snake-fences,  I  could  have  believed  myself  in  some  parts  of  England. 
A  rolling  district,  dotted  by  small  lakes,  prevails  about  Hillsborough, 
while  for  a  hundred  miles  this  side  Lake  Erie  the  forests  are  flat  and 
undiversified.  In  marshy  plains,  bilious  fevers  are  common.  I  was 
told  that  sleeping  in  respirators  is  a  certain  preventive.  I  wonder 
whether  this  has  been  tried  at  Norfolk,  where  there  has  been  of  late 
such  dreadful  pestilence.  During  our  journey  here,  I  heard  of  the 
fall  of  Sebastopol — sad,  sad  carnage.  My  anxiety  to  know  the  names 
of  those  who  have  last  sacrificed  themselves  for  England  and  duty 
must,  perhaps,  remain  nnappeased  for  days.  Friends  and  friends' 
sons  still  there  to  be  risked — heroes  and  Cornelias  :  they  will  have 
their  reward. 

Daring  our  mountain  expedition  I  was  struck  by  the  one  fact 
which  gives  American  armies  an  advantage  in  warfare — the  practi 
cal  rifle  skill  which  backwoods'  sport  cultivates.  Our  guides  always 
took  off  the  head  of  a  squirrel  with  their  guns,  to  avoid  (as  they 
said)  'injuring,  the  skin,'  so  that  every  American  soldier  is  a  good 
marksman,  while  many  of  England's  brave  peasantry,  though  willing 
and  ready  to  fight,  hardly  know  (upon  their  first  enlistment)  how  to 
fire  off  a  shot.  This  morning,  I  remarked  a  circumstance  which 
has  before  attracted  my  observation  travelling  in  railroad  cars.  Men 
in  the  garb  of  gentlemen,  and  who  would  be  indignant  at  being 
addressed  by  any  other  appellation,  were  busy  helping  one  another 


386  UNCOURTEOUS    MANNERS. 

to  drams  of  brandy  in  the  early  morning.     Quart  bottles  of  spirits 
extracted  from  carpet-bags  is  no  uncomon   sight.     This  habit  is 
rather  illustrative  of  that  aristocratic  law  which  denies  liberty  of 
action  to  the  poor  and  sick,  while  it  does  not  trench  upon  the 
freedom  of  the  rich  and  luxurious.     Have  fanatics  who   advocate 
this  law  ever  considered  that  the  same  principle  might  be  applied 
to  the  'Tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil?'     Would  not 
these  people  have  preached  to  the  Saviour  upon  the  impropriety  of 
his  first  miracle,  or  the  dangers  of  the  sacramental  wine  ?     About 
forty  miles  from  Chicago  we  passed  the  first  prairie  town  of  Joliet. 
Before  entering  it  there  is  a  cutting  through  a  kind  of  alluvial  con 
glomerate,  formed  of  gravel,  sand,  and  round  water-worn   pebbles ; 
and  around  it  there  are  well  cultivated  farms,  backed  by  forests ; 
large   fields   of   grain,  and   numerous  herds  of    cattle.     We  soon 
traversed  a  prairie,  and  saw  wide,  wide  plains  covered  with  grass  and 
flowers  on  every  side.     It  is  too  late  for  the  great  beauty  of  the 
flowers.     Now  there  are  but  few  in  but  Asters,  Coreopsis,  and  Soli- 
dagos.   After  Bloomington  where  we  stopped  to  dine,  nothing  could 
be  more  bleak  and  dreary  than  the  towns,  or  rather  villages,  among 
them  Lincoln,  Chatham,  Girard  ;  the  population  squalid  and  dirty  ; 
nothing   looking   clean    but   the    white    painted    wooden    houses, 
scattered  over  the  black  trod-down  prairies  ;  not  a  fence,  not  a  bush, 
not  a  garden.     These  places  appear  to  me  much  more  desolate  than 
any  forest  clearings  ;  there  you  can,  at  any  rate,  make  large  fires  to 
enliven  the  scene.     Our  journey  was  unpleasant:    in  the  clay  it 
rained,  and  every  window  would  have  been  closed,  if  I  had  not  kept 
mine  open  with  a  parasol  before  it.     At  night  a  rough-looking  set 
of  men  opened  every  glass  wide.     Whatever  the  mornings  may  be, 
almost  all  nights  in  America  are  cold.     A  superabundance  of  air  in 
the  cars  is  not  often  to  be  complained  of;  but  I  have  seldom  met 
with  any  consideration  for  ladies  in  this  particular.     In  travelling  to 
Chicago,  when  I  had  a  small  bit  of  my  own  window  open,  a  gentle 
man  three  seats  off  came  and  put  it  down,  without  any  request  or 
one  word  of  apology.     No  room  for  more  in  this  letter. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


LETTEK  XXX. 


ST.  Louis,  MISSOURI,  U.S., ) 
October  1, 1855.          f 

MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

It  was  almost  twelve  o'clock  at  night  when  the  Reindeer 

steamer  landed  R and  me  at  this  place.     The  river  voyage  of 

twenty-five  miles  was  a  most  unexpected  termination  of  our  long 
railroad  journey  from  Chicago.  It  seems  this  line  is  just  on  the 
point  of  being  opened  to  a  terminus  at  St.  Louis,*  and  meanwhile 
a  kind  of  mystery  (very  commonly  thrown  around  unfinished  rail 
lines)  has  enveloped  the  communication  between  this  place  and 
Chicago.  I  was  assured  of  going  through,  but  the  manner  and  the 
means  were  left  unexplained,  and  it  was  with  some  surprise  that  I 
found  myself  transferred  from  an  omnibus  into  a  steamboat,  instead 
of  a  hotel.  Upon  landing,  I  determined  not  to  invade  my  proposed 

hosts,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  P ,  at  that  time  of  night ;  so  after  procuring 

a  carriage,  we  drove  to  the  Planters'  Hotel,  where  I  had  the  most 
reasonable  charge  for  a  night's  lodging  and  breakfast  that  I  have 
paid  in  America :  and  after  breakfast,  my  friends  came  and  removed 
us  to  their  own  comfortable  house.  In  the  afternoon,  they  drove 
me  to  see  the  Cemetery,  and  also  to  visit  Mrs.  P 's  father  and 


*  Since  I  left  America  a  terrible  accident  has  occurred,  by  the  full  of  a 
bridge. 


388  ST.  LOUIS. 

mother,  a  few  miles  out  of  town.     Colonel  O'F has  a  very 

singular  and  interesting  place,  built  on  the  site  of  some  aboriginal 
city,  and  upon  the  summit  of  one  of  the  ancient  mounds.  In  dig 
ging  foundations,  hundreds  of  skeletons  of  a  very  old  type  were 
found  ;  stone  hatchets  ;  and,  among  other  relics,  one  delicately- 
worked  small  mocassin.  The  trees  which  now  shade  (and  so  bury 
the  dwelling  that  but  a  very  small  peep  of  the  Mississippi  can  be 
obtained  from  its  portico)  were,  with  the  exception  of  one  poplar,  all 

planted  by  Colonel  O'F .     He  purchased  a  considerable  estate 

there  forty  years  ago,  and  has  a  charming  garden,  with  some  of  the 
finest  Magnolias  macrophylla,  pumila,  and  purpurea  I  ever  saw,  ex 
cepting  in  the  forests  round  Mobile  :  magnificent  evergreens,  Ilex 
opaci,  Red  cedars,  and  various  pinuses  ;  Ipomcea,  Quammoclit,  and 
Coccinea,  forming  bowers  six  feet  high,  and  rose  bushes  fifteen  m 
height.  I  brought  away  the  first  ripened  seed-vessel  of  Magnolia 
macrophylla  I  ever  saw.  I  think  this  tree,  flowers  and  fruit,  still 
handsomer  than  grandiflora ;  the  leaves  are  larger  and  finer, 
although  neither  so  dark,  shining,  or  persistent  as  those  of  the 
grandiflora,  and  the  flowers  also  are  larger,  though  not  so  numerous. 
In  the  evening,  the  Botanist,  Dr.  Engelmann  (introduced  by  a  note 
from  Dr.  Gray),  called  and  gave  me  much  information  ;  my  pleasant 

friends  Dr.  and  Mrs  L also. 

October  2. — Dr.  L came  before  nine  in  the  morning,  and 

drove  me  out  to  see  various  parts  of  the  town  and  environs.  I 
wished  to  make  a  sketch  or  two,  but  it  was  difficult  to  find  any  spot 
from  whence  the  Mississippi  and  the  city  could  be  made  picturesque, 
and  there  would  have  been  no  satisfaction  in  a  mere  bird's-eye 
view.  At  last  I  drew  the  great  river,  with  that  now  small  village 
upon  the  opposite  bank,  called  Cahokia,  a  place  which  was  once  of 
importance,  but  which  St.  Louis  has  supplanted  and  so  completely 
eclipsed,  that  its  name  is  hardly  known  beyond  its  immediate  vicin 
ity.  I  made  one  more  drawing  looking  back  upon  St.  Louis,  taking 
as  foreground  one  of  the  most  picturesque  and  singular  limekilns  I 
ever  saw ;  it  is  so  rare  to  find  a  picturesque  bit  of  building  in 
America,  even  a  limekiln.  My  pleasant  kind  friend  then  took  me 


CHICAGO.  389 

to  see  Dr.  Engelmann,  where,  upon  a  small  lead  at  the  back  of  his 
little  town  house  (which  was  trellised  by  a  Catawba  vine,  in  full  bear 
ing),  is  to  be  seen  the  most  rare  and  curious  collection  of  Yuccas  and 
Cacti,  cultivated  this  side  of  the  Atlantic;  most  of  them  from 
Mexico.  The  Doctor  kindly  gave  me  a  little  box  of  seedlings, 
which  I  hope  to  import  safely  into  England.  These  objects  of  in 
terest  delayed  my  return  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  P until  after  their 

dinner  hour.     I  was   easily  forgiven  ;  but  they  and  some  friends 

were  waiting.     We  spent  the  evening  with  Dr.  and  .Mrs.  L . 

Although  I  was  obliged  to  be  on  board  the  steamer  at  six,  I  did 
not  go  to  rest  till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

Chicago,  October  3. — A  beautiful  day  ;  and  as  Lake  Michigan 
is  the  only  path  by  which  I  can  hope  to  attain  Mackinaw  and  the 
Sault  St.  Marie,  after  reaching  Milwaukie  by  railroad,  fine  weather  is 
of  great  importance ;  but  the  elements  have  been  unceasingly  good- 
natured  to  me :  ever  since  I  left  the  shores  of  England,  rain  or  sun 
shine  has  always  come  at  the  right  time  for  my  particular  objects, 
and  if  this  good  fortune  will  only  continue  till  the  second  week  in 
November,  and  see  me  well  across  the  Atlantic  again,  I  shall  have 
the  greatest  reason  to  be  thankful. 

Now  I  must  go  back  to  my  leaving  St.  Louis  yesterday  morning. 
After  performing  every  other  act  of  hospitality  and  kindness  pos 
sible,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  P and  Dr.  L were  up  at  five ;  the  two 

gentlemen  accompanied  me  to  the  Reindeer  steamer,  and  remained 
till  the  starting-bell  rung.  At  St.  Louis  I  have  left  a  valuable  and 
valued  friend,  even  if  in  this  phase  of  existence  I  meet  him  no  more. 
We  steamed  away  from  the  first  forest  of  only  funnels  I  ever  beheld. 
At  New  Orleans  there  was  also,  an  immense  assemblage  of  steamers, 
but  there  I  saw  also  sailing-vessels,  boats,  masts :  at  St.  Louis  no 
boats  but  steamers  ;  no  sails,  no  masts.  It  was  a  striking  object 
for  contemplation,  not  a  picturesque  one  certainly — still,  full  of 
meaning.  Some  of  the  names,  too,  were  suggestive — Reothuk,  She- 
nandoah,  Monongahela — Indian  sounds,  poetical  and  characteristic, 
and  appropriate  to  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri, 
which  fall  in  about  twenty  miles  above  St.  Louis.  We  saw  the 


390  'WOMEN'  AND  'LADIES.' 

junction  of  these  streams,  and  saw,  too,  how  the  heavy  molten  waters 
of  the  Missouri  contaminate  the  purity  of  the  Upper  Mississippi. 
For  a  short  distance  that  bright  blue  river  keeps  apart  from  his  un 
inviting  comrade,  but  he  cannot  long  avoid  contact ;  his  azure  robes 
are  first  spotted,  then  soiled,  and  at  last  they  are  miserably  and 
hopelessly  discoloured  and  embrowned,  and  they  must  roll  on  hun 
dreds  of  miles,  and  pass  New  Orleans  a  muddy  compound,  until 
they  are  purified,  but  lost  in  the  sapphire  waves  of  the  Mexican 
Gulf. 

We  reached  Alton  about  nine  o'clock:  it  is  a  pretty  place, 
which  I  did  not  see  in  the  dark  on  Saturday ;  the  last  forty  miles, 
too,  of  that  journey  was  through  a  rather  fine  country,  not  prairie, 
but  woody.  Before  leaving  the  Reindeer  steamer,  I  had  some  con 
versation  with  a  sensible  lady  from  Chicago,  who  regretted  the  way 
in  which  the  great  majority  of  American  young  women  are  sacri 
ficing  health  to  vanity.  She  agrees  that  it  is  not  so  much  climate 
as  bad  management  which  crowds  the  cemeteries  with  early  victims. 
An  idea  has  gone  forth  that  fragility  is  interesting,  and  young  ladies 
almost  cultivate  ill-health  !  She  told  me  that,  standing  at  her  own 
door  one  morning,  she  observed  three  girls  between  twelve  and  four 
teen  passing  to  school ;  it  was  damp  weather :  these  children  were 
lightly  and  showily  attired,  with  thin  silk  slippers,  to  set  off  their 
feet  to  advantage — instead  of  good  substantial  boots.  These  kind 
of  absurdities  are  common  in  the  United  States.  I  have  found  out 
a  reason  why  ladies  travelling  alone  must  be  extravagantly  dressed ; 
without  that  precaution  they  meet  with  no  attention  and  little 
civility, — decidedly  much  less  than  in  any  other  country.  So  here 
it  is  not  as  women  but  as  ladies,  they  are  to  be  cared  for ! — and  this 
in  democratic  America ! 

I  saw  flocks  of  prairie  birds,  both  going  and  coming  ;  and  I  was 
told  that  they  are  a  kind  of  grouse,  generally  called  'prairie  chick 
ens.'  If  they  were  roasted  as  we  roast  game  in  England,  they 
would  be  very  good  :  I  have  only  tasted  them  broiled,  so  as  to  be 
dry  and  hard.  There  was  nothing  which  struck  my  fancy,  in  the 
manner  of  expression,  as  peculiar  in  prairie  life.  I  no  longer  hear 


MILWAUKIE.  391 

the  singular  affirmation  '  Yes,  sirree,"  or  '  No,  sirree,'  which  was 
made  use  use  of  among  the  Adirondack  Mountains,  to  express  some 
thing  very  positive. 

October  3,  Milwaukie. — I  am  brought  to  a  stand-still.  We  ar 
rived  at  Chicago  too  late  for  the  Mackinaw  steamer  of  yesterday.  I 
was  told  that  by  taking  the  cars  here  early  this  morning,  we  should 
get  a  lake  conveyance ;  but,  on  reaching  this  place,  not  only  my 
hope  of  a  steamer  till  Friday  is  vain,  but  owing  to  what  is  called  a 
State  fair,  it  has  been  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  I  have  pro 
cured  a  tiny  bed-room  in  a  secondary  hotel.  The  town,  though 
scattered  and  extensive,  is  crammed  to  overflowing.  I  am  glad  to 
observe  that  in  these  parts  the  taste  of  the  settlers  induces  them  to 
preserve  the  Indian  names.  We  passed  to-day  by  several  places, 
such  as  Waakeyau,  Shenosha,  &c. ;  near  the  last-mentioned  town  I 
observed  a  beautiful  Gentian,  growing  in  dry  places  by  the  side  of 
the  track.  I  do  not  know  one  exactly  like  it ;  the  colour  was  as 
brilliant  as  Bavarica,  but  several  inches  taller. 

Thd  site  of  Milwaukie  upon  Lake  Michigan  is  supposed  to  have 
been  once  covered  by  its  waters,  and  fresh-water  shells  are  found  in 
the  elevations  behind  the  city. 

On  Saturday  morning  I  may  reach  Mackinaw,  in  the  steamer 
Niagara,  but  the  delay  I  have  met  Avith  puts  an  end  to  all  hope  of 
my  reaching  Lake  Superior,  as  Saint  Marie  is  too  distant,  and  I  must 
follow  the  Collingwood  line  from  Lake  Michigan  across  Lake  Huron, 
then  to  Toronto  by  land,  and  by  Lake  Ontario  to  Oswego,  so  as  to 
reach  Utica  on  Monday. 

Thursday,  October  4. — Yesterday  afternoon  I  set  forth  upon  a 
voyage  of  discovery,  to  find  out  a  spot  from  which  I  might  take  a 
sketch  of  the  city.  Making  my  way  over  a  bridge  to  higher  ground, 
it  was  evident  that  the  present  site  of  Milwaukie  was  once  covered 
by  water;  below  some  bluffs,  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  present 
lake,  there  is  a  most  distinct  beach,  and  shells  are  found  just  be 
yond.  The  town  authorities  are  going  to  great  expense  to  cut 
through  and  level  these  bluffs,  which,  left  as  they  are,  would  diver 
sify  and  ornament  their  town.  This  levelling  process  will  puzzle 


392 


MOUNTAIN. 


future  geologists.    I  think  the  water  here  tastes  of  iron.    By-the-bye, 
I  quite  forgot  to  mention  the  wonderful  Iron  Mountain  of  Missouri, 
situated  in  St.  Francis  County,  about  eighty  miles  south-west  or 
south  of  St.  Louis  :  it  rises  to  a  height  two  hundred  and  sixty  feet 
above  the  surrounding  country,  and  there  is  said  to  be  many  million 
tons  of  ore  above  the  surface  !      It  is  known  as  specular  oxide,  and 
yields  from  sixty  to  seventy  per  cent,  of  pure  iron.    There  is  also  the 
Pilot  Knob,  Shepherd's  Mountain,  and  other  valuable  deposits  in 
Madison  County,  on  the  line  of  the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad.     These 
deposits  vary  in  their  character  and  produce;  and  yield  iron  adapted 
to  various  purposes.      There  are  immense  works  and  forges  erected 
in  Franklin  County.     About  fifty  miles  west  of  St.  Louis  are  large 
iron  works,  and  in  various  other  localities  along  the  Mississippi; 
abundance  of  iron  is  found  also  at  that  place  on  the  Macamaco, 
where  iron  has  been  manufactured  for  some  years  past.    The  South 
west  branch  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  passes  through  extensive  depos 
its  of  minerals—  iron,  copper,  lead,  and  coal  sufficient  to  work  all  the 
mines  on  the  line  ;  indeed,  it  is  believed  the  metalliferous  region  of 
Missouri  covers  an  area  of  near  thirteen  millions  of  acres  :  it  also  ex 
tends  into  Arkansas  and  the  Indian  territory  ;  that  country  is  said  to 
be  all  magnesian  limestone,  rich  in  lead.   It  surprises  me  to  hear  that 
the  Iron  Mountain  is  thickly  timbered  :  I  should  have  expected  it  to  be 
devoid  of  trees  of  any  size.     I  made  my  sketch  this  morning,  from 
a  house  belonging  to  Mr.  G  -  ,  which  stands  upon  an  isolated 
bluff,  the  earth  having  been  so  cut  away  all  around  it  as  to  leave  t 
buildings  above  in  a  doubtful  state  of  security.     Mr.  G— 
they  are  seeking  compensation  for  the  injury  done  to  their  property, 
as  it  will  be  impossible  for  them  to  remain  on  it  another  year.     I 
walked  up  to  look  at  the  fair,  but  as  there  was  a  great  number  of 
people,  I  was  afraid  to  encounter  so  large  a  crowd,  and  kept  aloof; 
at  the  same  time  I  did  not  see  one  instance  of  intoxication  or  disor 
der  :  the  visitants  were  generally  well  attired,  good-humoured,  and 
quietly  amusing  themselves.     In  short,  this  State  fair  of  Milwaukie 
was  a  very  creditable  specimen  of  the  conduct  and  civilization  of  the 
citizens  of  Wisconsin. 


A    WORD    TO    TRAVELLERS.  393 

This  afternoon  closes  in  with  a  wetting  fog.  I  hope  it  does  not 
intend  to  be  so  thick  to-morrow  as  to  drive  me  back  to  Chicago ; 
for  I  will  not  embark  on  the  lake  and  take  the  Collingwood  line, 
unless  the  weather  promises  well,  though  I  shall  regret  to  return 
again  via  Toledo  and  Buffalo. 

Milwaukee,  October  5. — At  nine  this  morning  I  am  told  the 
Niagara  has  arrived ;  and  after  a  storm  last  night  the  weather  is 
fine. 

On  board  the  Niagara  Steamer,  October  6. — According  to  the 
usual  fashion  in  this  country  of  furnishing  false  information,  after 
giving  up  my  rooms  and  going  down,  bag  and  baggage,  to  the 
wharf,  the  only  vessel  there  was  a  steamer  going  back  to  Chicago. 
Fortunately,  at  the  steam  agency  office,  I  had  fallen  in  with  the 
principal  agent  for  the  Coliingwood  line,  to  whom  I  feel  indebted  for 
a  civility  and  attention  I  should  not  have  received  from  his  subordi 
nates.  He  got  my  things  safely  taken  care  of,  before  he  was  obliged 
to  embark  for  Chicago,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  facilitate  my  pas 
sage  in  the  Niagara  whenever  she  might  arrive  ;  but  six  hours  of 
tiresome  waiting  on  that  wharf,  in  very  uncivilized  company,  ensued. 
At  last,  in  despair,  I  went  up  to  the  office,  with  the  idea  of  changing 
my  ticket  for  the  railroad.  Evidently  there  was  a  great  demur  about 
allowing  this.  I  had  been  unwise  enough,  upon  the  faith  of  the 
Niagara's  supposed  arrival,  to  pay  for  my  tickets  through  to  Oswego. 
I  recommend  travellers  in  America  never  to  take  tickets  in  advance, 
beyond  the  first  office,  as,  if  anything  occurs  to  make  a  change  of 
route  necessary,  they  must  bear  in  rnind  that  refund  is  a  very  bad 
fund.  However,  just  as  I  had  secured  a  carriage  to  remove  my 
things  from  the  wharf  to  the  railroad,  with  a  determination  to  go 
off,  and  take  my  chance  of  ultimate  justice,  the  steamer  was  an 
nounced  to  be  in  sight,  and  upon  her  reaching  the  dock  we  found 
that  bad  weather  had  delayed  her  departure  from  Chicago  until 
eight  in  the  morning,  although  a  telegraphic  message  shown  to  me  at 
the  office  stated  she  had  left  that  port  at  one  hour  after  midnight.  Of 
course,  if  such  had  been  the  case,  her  delay  of  seven  hours  after 
the  usual  time  gave  reasonable  cause  for  anxiety.  Captain  Miller 
18 


394  WANT    OF    CONSIDERATION. 

was  very  obliging,  and  I  immediately  procured  a  comfortable  berth, 
where  I  could  rest  after  so  many  hours  of  suspense  and  anxiety. 

Of  course,  this  detention  puts  Lake  Superior  and  St.  Marie  out 
of  the  question.  The  doubt  is,  whether  I  can  even  attain  Utica  by 
the  day  I  am  engaged  to  be  there.  If  we  reach  Toronto  too  late, 
we  may  miss  the  steamer  to  Oswego,  and  be  again  delayed  some 
hours.  The  lake  is  not  very  smooth  :  it  still  retains  some  agitation 
from  the  storm  of  Thursday,  and  I  see  many  people  suffering  from 
sickness ;  however,  it  was  well  to  be  on  shore  during  the  bad  wea 
ther.  So  far  my  delay  was  a  fortunate  one.  Last  night  I  suffered 
from  an  illustration  of  the  want  of  thought  and  consideration  for 
others,  which  appears  to  me  to  make  itself  more  evident  among  the 
population,  particularly  of  the  young  generation,  in  America  than  in 
Europe.  Being  much  fatigued,  I  retired  early,  and  the  same  thing 
was  the  case  with  a  majority  of  passengers;  but  there  was  a  piano 
in  the  saloon,  close  to  my  berth.  After  ten  o'clock  at  night,  a  young 
girl  sat  down  to  perform — not  harmonious  music,  for  such  a  disturb 
ance  might  have  been  forgiven,  but  she  perseveringly  amused  herself 
by  striking  the  instrument  in  a  style  so  utterly  discordant,  that,  after 
a  while  of  patient  endurance,  I  opened  my  door,  and  inquired 
whether  it  was  right  at  that  time  of  night  to  keep  the  passengers 
from  sleeping  ?  She  repeated  my  words  with  an  air  of  ludicrous 
impertinence,  and,  though  she  paused  for  a  little  while,  before  long 
the  annoyance  was  continued,  if  not  by  her  by  others,  without  the 
smallest  excuse  or  apology !  Thus  do  the  rising  generation  here 
mistake  rudeness  for  Republicanism,  and  selfishness  for  independence ; 
but  we  must  not  be  too  hard  upon  them.  As  this  great  and  grow 
ing  nation  advances  in  life  and  experience,  it  will  advance  also  in 
civilization  and  true  Christian  politeness ;  Rowdyism  will  cease  to 
be  considered  manliness,  or  extravagance  gentility.  Noble  American 
spirits  are  setting  an  example,  correcting  these  errors.  A  few  more 
years,  and  their  influence  will  permeate  and  pervade  the  length  and 
breadth  of  American  society.  As  yet,  that  society  is  but  roughed 
out — not  polished  :  the  polishing  will  follow  in  due  time. 

Already  in  Boston  I  have  remarked  that  simplicity  and  comfort 


DARK    ROOMS.  395 

are  advancing  beyond  ostentation  ;  dress  and  furniture  there  evince 
more  attention  to  suitability  than  to  mere  show.  In  every  other 

part  of  the  United  States,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  G 's,  of 

Canandaigua,  and  one  or  two  other  houses,  magnificent  curtains, 
expensive  carpets,  and  fine  mirrors,  are  more  abounding  than  in 
England ;  but  useful  tables,  writing  materials,  and  other  little  com 
forts  we  consider  imperative,  are  wanting.  That  singular  fashion — 
which  is  almost  general — of  making  the  drawing-room  and  parlours 
so  obscure,  that  the  inmates  might  as  well  live  in  cellars,  is  one 
reason  why  necessaries  for  employment  are  scarce.  Tables  would  be 
almost  useless  where  no  one  can  see  to  write  or  draw.  I  have  been 
told  it  is  the  heat  of  this  climate  which  makes  people  thus  darken 
their  rooms ;  but  they  have  a  long  winter,  and  sunshine  is  as  care 
fully  excluded  in  cold  weather  as  in  hot ;  besides,  I  never  heard  that 
in  Italy  there  is  such  an  intense  love  of  obscurity.  It  has  happened 
that  I  have  opened  a  blind  in  some  of  the  hotels ;  and  the  chamber 
maid,  upon  entering,  rushed  to  close  it  with  an  air  of  as  much  alarm 
as  if  the  sun  was  shining  in  to  the  injury  of  some  valuable  picture. 

This  morning  we  have  had  some  negro  music ;  two  darkies  sing 
ing  duets,  accompanying  themselves  with  a  guitar  and  violin.  Their 
voices  good,  and  (like  those  of  most  of  the  negroes)  in  perfect  tune. 
One  song  had  a  chorus  imitative  of  barking  dogs,  which  amused  the 
younger  passengers  extremely.  By  eight  at  night  we  reached 
Mackinaw — that  island,  with  a  fort  once  known  as  Michilimackinac, 
a  name  I  had  so  often  heard  in  ray  childhood  from  an  old  friend, 
whose  husband  served  in  the  early  American  conflicts  between  the 
English  and  French,  that  I  wished  much  to  see  the  place  which 
owned  it,  but  it  was  too  dark  for  much  observation ;  I  could  only 
tell  that  a  fort  is  still  in  existence,  and  there  is  a  large  pointed  rock, 
like  a  sugar-loaf.  The  town  is  small,  with  a  population  of  about  two 
thousand.  A  steamer  lay  alongside  the  wharf ;  she  proved  to  be  the 
Lady  Elgin,  the  very  boat  in  which,  if  it  had  not  been  for  false  in 
formation,  we  should  have  embarked  on  Tuesday  night,  at  Chicago. 
That  apparent  disappointment  has  proved  an  advantage,  for  she  was 
disabled  in  the  next  day's  storm  ;  and  we  escaped  both  fright  and 


396  THE 

danger,  while  we  should  not  have  been  advanced  one  mile  on  our 
voyage. 

Toronto,  October  8, — We  arrived  at  Collingwood  by  seven  o'clock 
this  morning,  after  a  tedious  and  anxious  passage  from  Mackinaw — 
anxiety  for  others  more  than  for  ourselves.  As  the  Lady  Elgin 
was  not  considered  in  a  safe  position  at  that  place,  and  had  no  means 
there  of  repairing  her  damages,  our  captain  decided  upon  taking  her 
in  tow.  The  following  night  and  day  proved  rough ;  and,  if  the 
heaving  of  the  vessel  had  caused  the  towing  lines  to  give  way,  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  the  Niagara  to  have  afforded  more 
assistance.  What  an  awful  consideration  that  such  an  accident 
would  have  obliged  us  to  leave  the  unfortunate  Lady  Elgin  and  her 
passengers  to  their  fate ;  which  (as  she  was  quite  helpless)  would 
probably  have  been  a  watery  grave.  It  was  a  great  relief  when  once 
we  passed  Lake  Huron  and  the  lower  end  of  the  Georgian  Bay,  for 
then  apprehension  was  over. 

During  this  voyage  we  saw  the  Manitoolia  Islands,  and  Fox  and 
Duck  Islands;  of  course  I  abandoned  all  notion  of  Sault  St.  Marie 
and  Lake  Superior.  The  cars  received  us  upon  landing  at  Colling 
wood  ;  and  passing  by  Lake  Simcoe,  I  was  glad,  after  travelling 
ninety  miles  before  breakfast,  to  reach  this  place  by  eleven  o'clock. 
At  nine  in  the  evening  we  must  embark  upon  Lake  Ontario, 
in  the  Canada  steamer  for  Oswego.  I  shall  be  glad  when  my  last 
voyage  upon  these  inland  seas  is  happily  accomplished.  Again  we 
were  subjected  to  false  information,  although  I  sent  down  to  the 
agent  who  had  charge  of  the  baggage  (which  was  checked  through 
to  Oswego)  to  ask  for  the  steamer  belonging  to  the  Collingwood  line. 
R was  informed  that  our  passage  must  be  made  in  the  Canada. 

'  Are  you  sure  that  is  the  Collingwood  line  ? '  she  asked ;  and 
was  answered,  '  Oh,  it  is  all  one.'  Yet,  when  we  showed  our  tickets 
upon  going  on  board  the  steamer,  we  were  informed  that  they  were 
useless,  and  that  our  passage  must  be  again  paid  for;  besides  which, 
we  then  found  that  our  baggage  had  been  previously  sent  at  five 
o'clock  by  the  Mayfloiver  ;  so  there  was  the  in  convenience  of  its  ab 
sence  added  to  additional  expense.  Our  night  voyage  across  Lake 


SILURIAN    FOSSILS.  397 

Ontario  was  a  quiet  and  safe  one  ;  the  Canada  is  a  fine  large  steamer. 
We  reached  Oswego  by  eight  o'clock,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  un 
expected  delays  in  attaining  the  landing  wharf,  we  should  have  been 
in  time  for  the  nine  o'clock  train  to  Syracuse  ;  but  as  it  was  we  had 
to  wait,  with  as  much  patience  as  we  might,  until  half-past  eleven. 

By  three  o'clock  I  reached  Utica,  to  find  a  never-failing  cordial 
reception  from  my  friends  there.  In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  Mrs. 
Seymour  took  me  to  see  Colonel  Jowett's  fine  collection  of  Silurian 
fossils  ;  there  I  found  very  curious  and  unique  specimens  of  the  early 
crustaceans,  a  great  variety  of  Trilobites,  and  some  things  I  never  be 
fore  heard  of ;  the  most  singular  were  found  at  Niagara  and  Tren 
ton.  Colonel  Jowett  was  so  obliging  as  to  offer  me  some  duplicates, 
which  I  shall  like  much  to  have.  At  night  I  took  leave  of  Governor 
and  Mrs.  Seymour,  and  parted  from  them  with  a  deep  and  grateful 
sense  of  the  untiring  and  affectionate  kindness  they  have  evinced  to 
wards  me  during  the  past  year.  The  early  train  for  Albany  started 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  I  reached  Awastanook,  near  Lenox, 
sufficiently  early  for  a  pleasant  drive  in  the  afternoon. 

Thursday,   October  10. — Mr.  D went  with  me  in  search  of 

a  white  rose  I  saw  blowing  last  July  upon  Rattlesnake  Mountain,  as 
the  season  is  now  favourable  for  taking  up  suckers.  We  were  suc 
cessful  in  finding  an  abundant  crop,  and  I  am  rather  in  hopes  that 
this  Awastanook  rose  will  prove  a  novelty  to  the  botanical  world. 

Thursday  afternoon,  and  all  Friday,  the  rain  poured  down  in  tor 
rents  ;  I  thought  myself  fortunate  in  being  comfortably  housed,  and 
that  this  storm  did  not  catch  us  on  Lake  Ontario. 

Saturday. — The  morning,  though  cloudy,  was  only  wet  under 
foot  ;  a  carriage  was  ordered,  and  I  drove  with  one  of  my  friends,  to 
fulfil  a  promise  I  had  made  to  an  occupant  of  the  farm  from  which  I 
had  made  a  sketch  of  Lenox  and  the  surrounding  country,  that  she 
should  see  the  drawing.  We  found  with  her  two  intelligent  young 
women  ;  daughters,  I  conclude.  The  premises  resembled  a  comfort 
able  English  farm  ;  a  large  spinning-wheel  was  in  use  in  the  parlour. 
I  observed  maps,  and  other  indications  of  education,  with  a  certain 
degree  of  refinement ;  and  all  the  inmates  evinced  an  intense  and 


398  INDIAN    NAMES. 

delighted  interest  in  my  sketch  ;  they  expressed  the  most  lively  grati 
tude  for  being  allowed  to  see  it,  and  eagerly  pointed  out  every  fa 
miliar  tree  and  cottage.  In  return,  I  learned  the  Indian  name  of 
that  pretty  lake,  on  the  borders  of  which  Hawthorne  wrote  his  Seven 
Gables — Mackinaw, — '  the  Mountain  Mirror  ; '  what  an  improve 
ment  upon  that  un-euphonious  appellation  of  Stockbridge  Pond ! 

Monday,  October  16. — This  morning  at  nine  o'clock  I  must  take 
leave  of  Awastanook  forever.  Thankful  for  my  enjoyment  of  its 
lovely  scenery,  and  convinced,  too,  that  this  spot  will  ever  remain 
impressed  upon  my  memory,  as  a  '  Mountain  Mirror,'  which  to  rae 
has  reflected  only  truth  and  beauty. 

Boston,  October  16. — Although  I  came  by  railroad  from  the 
Berkshire  Hills  last  summer,  I  was  yesterday  still  more  strongly  im 
pressed  by  the  beautiful  country  it  passes  through  :  perhaps  the  late 
rains  have  embrowned  and  deepened  the  rapid  torrents  and  numer 
ous  lakes  of  that  Highland  district;  while  crimson  and  golden  tints 
give  added  brilliancy  to  forests  which  are  at  all  times  varied  in  foli 
age.  I  could  only  regret  that  almost  all  the  houses  and  farms  are  so 
very  white  and  uniform  in  appearance ;  I  did  once  see  a  sky-blue 
stable,  and  occasionally  a  red  barn,  and  such  colours  were  quite  a  re 
lief  to  the  monotony.  How  subdued  and  quiet  the  grey  stone  build 
ings  of  England  will  look,  after  the  almost  universal  white  paint  of 
American  erections. 

I  find  myself  again  under  that  friendly  roof  which  sheltered  me 
first,  and  promises  to  shelter  me  last  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic ;  as 
I  shall  embark  on  the  24th,  upon  my  homeward  voyage,  this  will 
probably  be  the  conclusion  of  my  letters.  Before  closing  them,  I 
must  once  more  return  to  the  subject  of  Slavery :  in  the  first  place, 
to  extract  a  few  observations  from  a  letter  written  by  a  gentleman  of 
known  experience  and  ability ;  and  then  to  answer  an  accusation 
made  against  me  by  some  Northern  friends,  who  affirm  that  I  have 
not  spent  sufficient  time  among  slaves  and  slaveholders  to  judge 
fairly.  My  correspondent  says  : — *  The  phenomenon  of  African  Sla 
very,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is  in  truth  no  phenomenon  at  all. 
Where  is  the  country,  or  the  period  of  history,  wherein  slavery  did 


REMARKS    ON    SLAVERY.  399 

not  exist  in  some  shape  or  the  other  ?  Slavery  has  always  existed, 
and  will  continue,  as  long  as  there  is  a  disparity  in  the  intellect  and 
energy  of  men.  I  do  not  enter  into  the  question  of  the  Unity  of 
Races,  which  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  Bible  authority  :  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  assert  that  this  race,  known  as  African,  is  inferior  to 
the  Caucasian.  As  a  people,  the  blacks  are  sensual  and  stupid,  lazy,  im 
provident  and  vicious ;  unless  under  guidance,  they  have  no  idea  of 
cherishing  those  virtues  which  elevate  our  common  nature ;  they 
have  an  alacrity  for  sinking — nothing  more.  In  their  own  country 
they  are  either  savages  or  slaves.  There  is  at  this  time,  and  there 
have  been  for  long  periods,  a  large  number  of  free  coloured  people  in 
the  slaveholding  and  non-slaveholding  States  of  the  Union ;  but 
even  constant  attrition  against  Yankee  sharpness  and  shrewdness, 
has  failed  to  elicit  one  scintillation  of  talent  or  genius  from  this  race. 
When  they  pass  from  bondage,  it  is  only  to  swell  the  volume  of  in 
significance  or  vice  which  has  characterized  their  past  history.  But 
besides  this,  I  would  remark  that  we  should  reflect  upon  the  fact  of 
Slavery,  more  than  upon  the  manner  of  its  regulation.  The  Virgin 
ian  negro,  who  is  held  by  law  as  a  slave,  is  really  little  more  a  slave 
than  the  man  who  works  in_the  mines  and  manufactories  of  England. 
The  first  is  held  in  subjection  by  a  well-devised  system  of  police,  the 
other  by  a  necessity  stronger  than  any  police.  It  is  no  answer  to  say 
that  the  Englishman  can,  if  he  chooses,  leave  his  employer ;  that 
power  only  exists  in  theory,  as  the  penalty  for  severing  his  bonds  is 
starvation.  His  real  master  is  Capital — which,  being  in  its  nature 
greedy,  grasping,  and  selfish,  it  doles  out  to  human  labour  the  small 
est  possible  amount  which  will  sustain  life,  and  keep  the  working 
machine  in  due  order.  There  are  three  millions  of  slaves  in  the 
United  States,  and  they  constitute  the  only  black  people  who  are 
progressing  in  civilization  and  Christianity — who  are  orderly,  quiet, 
contented,  and  industrious.  They  are  well  fed,  well  clad,  and  in 
physical  comforts  will  compare  advantageously  with  the  same  num 
ber  of  operatives  in  any  part  of  Europe. 

*  The  only  favourable  results  yet  marked  out  for  the  African 
race  are  due  to  the  American  system  of  slavery ;  and  until  experience, 


400  REMARKS    ON    SLAVERY. 

shall  have  demonstrated  that  some  other  policy  will  result  in  greater 
blessings  to  the  negro,  I  cannot  but  regard  efforts  to  abolish  the 
present  state  of  things  as  thoughtless  and  unwise,  if  not  unjust  and 
inhuman.' 

So  much  for  the  opinion  of  a  good  man  who  has  long  studied 
the  question  here.  My  visit  to  the  South  may  not  have  enabled  me 
to  ferret  out  and  investigate  all  the  evils  there  may  be  to,  discover 
there,  and  it  would  be  absurd  to  ignore  the  possible  existence  of 
cruel  masters  and  ill-used  slaves ;  but  I  saw  nothing  and  heard 
very  little,  which  would  substantiate  accusations ;  yet  early  rising 
and  active  habits  gave  me  opportunities  of  using  my  eyes  and  ears, 
in  the  fields  and  the  forests,  and  in  places  where  not  many  travellers 
would  be  suspected.  The  varied  aspects  of  New  York,  and  Paris, 
and  London,  are  dwelt  upon  and  described  every  day,  and  yet  how 
few  writers  think  it  necessary  to  seek  out  and  reprobate  the  slave 
holders  of  those  cities.  Now  I  hear  it  said — '  Bad  things  may  be 
done  in  free  countries,  but  they  are  not  done  legally.' 

The  abuses  of  slavery  are  no  less  illegal;  and  let  us  confess,  and 
acknowledge  repentantly,  how  cruelly  England,  or  rather  English 
law,  did  first  neglect,  and  then  persecute  children,  human  beings 
born,  and  perhaps  nurtured  in  crime,  through  the  indolence  and 
negligence  of  society.  Then,  because  of  the  very  weakness  and 
ignorance  thus  induced  and  fastened  upon  these  helpless  ones,  have 
they  not  been  incarcerated  in  prisons  ?  denied  those  very  occupations 
and  exercises  positively  necessary  for  the  moral,  intellectual,  and 
physical  improvement  of  growing  creatures  ?  and  when  at  last  the 
consequences  of  such  treatment  became  evidenced  by  an  increase  of 
vicious  propensities,  the  poor  outcasts,  if  not  legally  murdered  accord 
ing  to  ancient  law,  have  at  any  rate  been  whipped  and  tormented 
until  their  hands  were  raised  against  every  man,  as  those  of  every 
man  have  been  against  them  ! 

Of  late  years  the  British  people  have  opened  their  eyes,  and  they 
have  been  looking  into,  and  endeavouring  to  remedy,  such  evils ;  and 
surely  every  nation  has  work  enough  to  do  at  home ;  and  if  each 


EPILOGUE.  401 

will  only  put  aside  distant,  and  perhaps  ignorant  philanthropy,  until 
they  have  done  their  own  immediate  business,  the  world  will  be  in 
a  fair  way  to  be  mended  ;  and  those  crimes  and  sorrows  which  affect 
the  white  race  quite  as  heavily  and  pitiably  as  Slave  Institutions  press 
upon  the  black,  will  rapidly  become  ameliorated  and  consoled. 

Tn  the  meanwhile,  if  the  observations  in  these  letters  jar  against 
commonly-received  and  long-cherished  opinions  and  principles,  I  am 
sorry  to  differ.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  every  case  has  two  sides. 
Hitherto,  of  Slavery  one  side  only  has  been  made  prominent.  It  will 
be  admitted  by  most  intelligent  thinkers,  that  open  discussion  is 
useful ;  and  if  I  have  drawn  mistaken  conclusions,  they  must  ulti- 
mately  rectify  themselves.  I  am  not  conscious  of  being  imbued  with 
a  spirit  of  partisanship ;  and  I  trust  nothing  I  have  said  will  arouse 
feelings  of  bitterness,  or  in  any  degree  wound  that  kind  spirit,  through 
and  by  which  alone  this  subject  should  be  approached. 

These  letters  were  hastily  written,  sent  off  by  post  uncopied,  and 
generally  uncorrected.  They  ask  for  indulgence ;  but,  as  I  have  always 
believed  that  the  fresh  impressions  of  any  commonly  intelligent  ob 
server  must  have  some  degree  of  interest,  so  I  make  no  further  apol 
ogy  for  this  publication;  and  I  shall  only  add  one  or  two  more 
suggestions  with  regard  to  Slavery.  If  that  indigenous  earth-nut, 
from  which  such  a  quantity  of  oil  is,  or  can  be,  expressed,  were  to 
meet  with  sufficient  encouragement  upon  the  African  coasts,  and  if 
the  Blockading  Squadron  were  exchanged  for  merchant-ships  to  car 
ry  away  the  produce,  the  traffic  in  slaves  would  gradually  be  given 
up  for  a  more  remunerative  occupation,  and  it  would  be  one  which 
might  absorb  all  the  surplus  black  labour.  Commercial  remedies 
are  the  only  certain  and  legitimate  slavery  preventives.  By  using 
them,  we  should  save  white  lives  as  well  as  black  lives,  and  white 
money  as  well  as  black  interests ;  and  if  the  slaveholders  in  the 
South  American  States  can  be  induced  to  co-operate  with  us  in  the 
Christianizing  and  civilizing  of  Africa  by  a  law  which  may  enable 
all  those  black  slaves  who,  showing  sufficient  economy  and  fore 
thought  to  save  money  for  self-purchase,  are  willing  to  buy  them 
selves,  on  condition  of  going  to  Africa,  much  good  can  be  accomplished. 


402  EPILOGUE. 


It  is  my  belief,  you  may  as  well  attempt  to  improve  the  morals,  and 
add  to  the  happiness  of  idiots  by  turning  them  out  of  asylums,  as  to 
imagine  you  can  benefit  the  '  darkies'  by  abolitionism. 

Yours  affectionately, 

A.  M.  M. 


If  any  wishes  should  be  expressed  for  the  publication  of  a  series 
of  SKETCHES  which  would  illustrate  these  volumes,  Messrs.  WILLIS  of 
Henrietta  Street,  Covent  Garden,  have  authority  to  receive  applica 
tions  concerning  it. 

December,  1855. 


THE  END. 


